Arboricultural Associations

2024 is the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Association. As part of our celebrations, we’re inviting you to share your tree stories – your personal connection with a tree: an inspiration, recollection or association from the last six decades.

The idea for the series came from Arboricultural Association Award winner Chris Knapman, who has sent us this article about two of the many special trees in his life.

To be part of the celebration you can send us just a picture or two and a caption, or write something longer if you’d like to. If you have a story to share, please get in touch via update@trees.org.uk

South Bank, London Tree planting 1965–2024

Peter Bridgeman

The part of London’s South Bank between Westminster Bridge (County Hall) and Waterloo Bridge was used to deposit brick rubble cleared after the Second World War and the London blitz. It was not until 1951 that the site was developed for the temporary Festival of Britain, the permanent Royal Festival Hall and later for other entertainment and hospitality venues.

After the Festival of Britain, the land remained empty until 1965 when the newly-formed Greater London Council decided to plant a feature avenue of 56 London plane trees between County Hall and Hungerford Bridge. Half were root-ball-prepared, 12-year-old semi-mature specimens from its own Finsbury Park, some 18 to 20 feet tall. The remainder were purchased extra-large nursery stock, at 10 to 12 feet tall. The trees were planted at 30-feet spacings between trees and the two rows (all measurements were imperial in those days). The plan was to remove alternate trees once established.

As the site was just hardcore and brick rubble, each tree pit was 9 feet square and 6 feet deep, held in place by honeycomb brickwork with beams to support the paving and tree grilles. Each pit was filled with 18 cubic yards of fibrous topsoil and consolidated. Watering points were established all along the avenue.

1. And now the avenue features in a work of art by Jo Quigley titled A View of Parliament, which shows people and London planes in wonderful winter light and shade. (Reproduced by kind permission of the artist www.quigleyarts.co.uk/published by Collier and Dobson)

The planting started in the autumn of 1965 and continued into 1966. The larger trees were transported and planted with the Newman mini-tree trailer. A scaffold pole system of support was devised and proved to be very effective. An account of this planting was detailed in the Arboricultural Journal volume 1, number 3, May 1966. (See also photographs 2 and 3, taken the first summer after planting.)

Photo 2 shows the avenue in relation to the Houses of Parliament and the difference in stature of the two tree sizes. In photo 3 you can compare the trees with the ‘Dolphin’ lampposts along the embankment. It was estimated the trees cost £300 each (mainly tree pit preparation) and the lampposts over £1,000 each!

Every tree grew successfully, as can be seen in photographs 4 and 5 taken in the summer of 1979. Photo 4 is taken from high up in County Hall and shows the extent of the avenue. The avenue was also extended farther east towards Waterloo Bridge at a later date. Photo 5 is taken from a similar position to photo 3 and it is clear how well the trees had grown. The stakes have been removed and the grilles were replaced soon after.

Sometime later, alternate trees were removed, and the next quite dramatic event was the great storm of October 1987. I am not sure of numbers, but several well-established trees were blown over or severely damaged on this very exposed site. The remaining trees were crown-reduced.

At the time of the millennium the trees were somewhat upstaged when the Millennium wheel (now the London Eye) was built close to County Hall. This is now one of the most iconic of London’s landmarks and it cost £70m! There is also the Sea Life London Aquarium at County Hall, the British Film Institute, the National Theatre just the other side of Waterloo Bridge and many hospitality venues along the South Bank. It has become one of the most visited tourist areas.

Now some 60 years on, the remaining 20 trees between County Hall and Hungerford footbridge are maturing, with trunk diameters of up to 60–70 cm diameter (see photos 6 and 7). Although they appear mature, they are still only 70 years old and hopefully have a couple of centuries of future life. It is quite satisfying to see the fruits of your labour but it does make you feel quite old!

You can now spend much money visiting the various venues on the South Bank or take a free stroll along the South Bank tree avenue beside the River Thames, watching the world go by and the street entertainers.

Images: 1966 and 1979 by Peter Bridgeman. 2024 by Sarah Bryce.

Peter Bridgeman supervised the Greater London Council’s Large Tree Planting Unit between 1965 and 1967. (Peter Spurway, Chair of the Association in 1993, was also part of the unit.)

Photo 2: 1966

Photo 3: 1966

Photo 4: 1979

Photo 5: 1979

Photo 6: 2024

Photo 7: 2024

This article was taken from Issue 206 Autumn 2024 of the ARB Magazine, which is available to view free to members by simply logging in to the website and viewing your profile area.