A majestic 500-year-old oak tree - which legend has it was planted by Queen Elizabeth I - is still standing in a historic Hertfordshire park. Here's what makes it so special and also how to find it.
The majestic Panshanger Great Oak is said to be England’s largest single stemmed ‘maiden oak’ meaning it has grown naturally without being coppiced or cut back.
It clearly hasn’t done this ancient tree any harm because it now measures nearly eight metres in girth and almost 20 metres high.
It can be found on the outskirts of Welwyn Garden City - around 30 minutes' drive from Watford - in the 1,000-acre Panshanger Park.
Churchill and Queen Elizabeth I links
Its acorns were used as seedlings for other oaks including the Prince Consort Oak in the Forest of Dean and a "daughter" tree planted nearby by Winston Churchill.
The tree's link to the Tudor Queen centres around Elizabeth I's supposed visit to the estate in the 16th century when she is said to have either planted or blessed it.
Whatever the truth of its origin story, the majestic tree was a focal point of the landscaped Panshanger Park estate.
It was owned by The Cowper family from the 18th Century onwards and the park was first reshaped by the great landscape architect Capability Brown and later refined by Humphry Repton.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert even visited the oak in the 19th century and it survived a lightning strike.
And in 2002, the Great Oak was named one of fifty “Great British Trees” to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee, cementing its status as a living national monument.
How to find it
The best (and most scenic) way to find it is to park in the car park off Thieves Lane, Hertford, (SG14 2GZ), then take one of the three routes below through Panshanger Park.
Currently there are roaming cows too, alongside beautiful lakes and dozens of other huge oak trees, so visitors have plenty to enjoy on the way to the main attraction. There is also what was formerly the Panshanger Orangery - now fenced off - just around the corner from the tree, so that's when you know you're close.
The tree is fenced to safeguard its roots yet still visible from surrounding paths, and remains a monument to the English landscape that you can still visit to this day.
Another fascinating element to it is the tree has a 'daughter branch' that has turned into its own tree. This is known as 'layering' - when a tree branch drops down, touches the ground, and grows roots to become a separate functional tree.
Although Panshanger House was demolished in the 1950s, the oak survived, protected by a tree preservation order and now managed within the publicly accessible park.
An alternative car park, which also has toilets and a refreshment van, is on Panshanger Lane.
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Its towering branches have long inspired admiration and it has featured in historic documents, poems and artworks over the centuries.
The oak was already renowned in 1718 with a measurement estimating it contained 315 cubic feet of timber – suggesting a considerable age even then.
Arthur Young recorded its girth at 17 feet in 1804, and county historian Robert Clutterbuck noted its “marvellous vigour” in 1805.
The 18th century clergyman and naturalist Gilbert White praised the oak as perhaps the finest in south‑east England, artist Thomas Medland painted it in 1814, while Jacob George Strutt included a sketch in his 1822 work Sylva Britannica.
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