Dubbed ‘Darwin’s Oak’, the landmark tree is (supposedly) on a route followed by a young Charles Darwin on his walks, feeding his interests in natural history and collecting. The oak is situated in Shropshire, close to Mount House in Shrewsbury, where Darwin was born in 1809.
Unfortunately, the tree stands on the proposed North West Relief Road (NWRR) which the council wanted felled to ‘complete’ the ring road around the town. Not only will that mean the end of the ancient tree, but campaigners added that “The road will decimate one of the last vestiges of beautiful countryside extending almost to the heart of the county town and widely known as Shrewsbury’s ‘Green Wedge’”.
By means of the petition to save Darwin’s Oak, Robert McBride, has collated more than 108,000 signatures – over the 100,000 requirement needed to engage parliamentary debate. McBride delivered the petition along with campaigner Karen Pearce, Julia Buckley MP for Shrewsbury, North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan and Jack Taylor from the Woodland Trust