Wellingtonia 110

This Wellingtonia, in Denmark Road, off North Street, just north of Carshalton Station, was first spotted in the margins of a visit to St. Helier hospital for a TOE (in full, the rather scary looking trans-oesophageal echocardiography). First captured in zoom mode, when I was not quite sure that the tree was not a Scots pine, and having a bus to catch was not minded to walk down and check.

But I did check the following day, it being convenient to stop off on the way into town, with the first item of interest being this storm damage, rather more substantial than anything I had come across in Epsom.

And so into Denmark Road, where the tree did indeed appear to be a Wellingtonia, not very old (50-100 years?) on a bit a scrap land which looked to belong to the council. What Simenon would call a terrain vague.

Lots of small green cones up top.

More visible, if blotched, under zoom.

And, for the avoidance of doubt, a scaly twig. Not the needle of a Scots pine. So a perfectly respectable No.110. Next item on the agenda was why was it there, these trees usually being planted in the gardens of large houses or the grounds of even larger ones. Or in the grounds of mental hospitals.

A hundred and twenty years ago, the area seemed to be a right mixture of light industry, watercress beds, relics of country estates, suburban villas and affordable housing for artisans. Lots of water powered mills of one sort or another. With the western end of Denmark Road looking to be suburban villas, the eastern end Strawberry Lodge.

Rather clearer in this version. Note the affordable housing between the railway and the river, bottom centre.

Much the same in 1946.

But by 1970, most of the old housing in and around Denmark Road seemed to have been swept away. Was the present tree planted by an enthusiastic gardener attached to the then fairly new Carshalton College (of reference 2)? With the worshipful mayor in attendance? It would help if I had a better estimate of the age of the tree.

I think the tree in question is the one with a big shadow, just up from the orange spot. Strip of waste ground, running up beside the college, clearly visible.

I might say in passing that the TOE turned out to be much less of a drama than I had feared. There did not seem to be any question of declining sedation - although I dare say I could have made an issue of it - and all was done in 15 minutes or so without any fuss. Except that BH, waiting outside, told me that it was much nearer an hour and that I was fairly groggy when I emerged. So although they say one is not unconscious, I have no memory of the procedure proper. Perhaps it was the odd sort of consciousness where you have no subsequent memory of it, so it barely counts. Another curious phenomenon, along with dreams, which are remembered, but which are apt to fade very fast unless quickly noted down. I dare say the officiating doctor would have known all about it, but at the time I might have asked him, I was in no fit state to ask.

PS 1: one amusing feature of the mixed waiting area was the large blue chairs reserved for those recovering. Which meant that the receptionists behind their desk could tell at a glance which people they were supposed to be keeping an eye on.

PS 2: before development, when Denmark Road was little more than a field boundary, perhaps in part some kind of avenue, running northeast from Strawberry Farm. But I don't think that this tree is 150, let alone 200, years old.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/01/wellingtonia-109.html.

Reference 2: https://stcg.ac.uk/carshalton-college.

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