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Wivenhoe Park Millennium Oaks

To commemorate the millennium 60 oaks were planted in Wivenhoe Park, University of Essex, UK, in November 2000. This project was the brainchild of Prof. Tim Gray of the Department of Biological Sciences.
The oaks ranged from North America to the Far East; I planted a Portuguese oak (Quercus faginea) near the North towers. However, years later I could not find it. Where was it? Where were all the other millennium oaks?
The person who helped me find 'my oak' was the dendrologist, Christopher Howard, who had a lot of information about the campus trees and was very willing to share it. We located 'my oak' and a few more on our first field trip, October 2014.

Christopher Howard holding a branch of Cambridge Oak

Christopher Howard holding on to a branch of his favourite oak:
Cambridge Oak (Qercus ×warburgii) number 55. 21 October 2014.

With his invaluable help and of several other people, after four years of fieldwork I managed to locate and (roughly) identify all the other oaks. By late 2018 there were 52 millennium oaks, comprising 25 species; not including the Cambridge Oak number 55, which in the meantime had died, probably of some oak disease.
For more details about this collection check the map below and/or my article in the International Oak Website: The Wivenhoe Park millennium oaks collection - In memoriam Professor Tim Gray, 1937 - 2018.

Interactive Google map of the campus indicating the millennium oaks.
Click on each oak to view their name and some photos.

Update!

Very sadly Christopher Howard passed away in September 2020 after a short illness. This was a tremendous loss to the community; but fortunately just before he passed away, he updated the campus tree trail and labelled all the trees with descriptive back labels of the same design as his Castle Park tree trail. The new campus trail is available on this page: Wivenhoe Park - Explore the park in more detail, scroll down to Take a guided tour of our trees and follow the links. Please note that the new trail now includes five millennium oaks, instead of two.

Trees are always changing and 25 years after they were planted several changes have occurred in this collection. First, unfortunately the oak planted by Professor Tim Gray died, Turner Oak, #21, which was part of the Campus Tree Trail, #38. Coincidentally only one of the 4 Turner Oaks has survived, #6 near the North Towers.
So at the time of writing, there are about 46 extant millennium oaks in the park - and some look very fine indeed. This is an extent survival rate.
This collection continues to enhance the value of Wivenhoe Park, which is rated among the ten best parks in the UK. See below four millennium oaks, part of the grove planted in memory of Professor Alan Gibson.

Gibson grove in the autumn

Four millennium oaks near the Ivor Crewe Lecture Hall. 28 October 2019.

The campus millennium oaks is a collection well worth studying. Check the Google map for changes. And should you want an updated version of Table 1 of the original article, do not hesitate in contacting me.

Contact: Maria Fremlin

Last modified: 8 November 2025

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