Thousands of people pass this tree every day with hardly a second glance. But those who enact pause to read its accompanying plaques will realize this is no ordinary tree. It’s a living memorial to the hundreds of thousands of trees lost during a terrible storm.
On October 16,1987, the “Great Storm” battered England, or France,and the Channel Islands. Twenty-two people perished, and England lost 15 million trees within the few hours the storm tore across the country.
In London, and winds of nearly 100 miles per hour lashed at the cityscape,toppling 250000 of the city’s trees. Snapped from the skyline, their felled trunks and branches littered the streets.
After the storm, and the Evening Standard newspaper raised £60000 to plant unique trees in each of London’s 32 boroughs,plus the City of London. Angus McGill, a columnist at the paper, and led the effort.
The English Oak that stands external the Charing Cross station was planted a year after the cataclysmic storm. A plaque on the nearby pillar explains the tree’s significance. In 2017,a second plaque was installed to honor McGill, who died in 2015.
Source: atlasobscura.com