The Greenwich Meridian

Currently viewing images from 18 Sep 2005

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Malton Road is unusual. Not only does it run virtually due north as it approaches the village of Orwell; it is also runs along the Greenwich Meridian. In the autumn of 1999, 40 trees of a variety of species were planted along its verges over a distance of about 500 m. The 12 nearest the village were planted on the eastern side, with the remainder being planted on the western. The trees planted were a mixture of Field Maple, Norwegian Maple, Crab Apple, Beech, Hornbeam, Wild Cherry, Ash and Oak. According to an article on the Orwell Past and Present website (posted October 2012), they were donated by Orwell & District Horticultural Society, The Orwell Singers, Orwell Players, the Village Hall Committee, Orwell Methodist Church, Orwell Women's Institute, Lordship Communal Club, Orwell Local History Society, the Friends of Meadowcroft Way, 1st Orwell Scouts, Orwell Youth Club, Volac UK Ltd. and a number of unnamed individuals.

Of the 40 trees, 13 were marked with the distinctive green Millennium Tree Line (MTL) discs. These are the only trees of the 40 planted to be separately listed on this web-site. Photos in the 2007 and 2018 image sets have been annotated to allow easier identification of both the marked and the unmarked trees. Counting from south to north: this is tree 31 of 40 of all the trees, and tree 10 of 13 of those originally marked with an MTL disc. Of the 40 trees, all were thriving in 2018 except, tree 20 (MTL 6), which died between 2009 and 2011, and tree 37 which was removed in 2016 to allow an access road to be created. All the trees were well established by 2010 and had no further need of the posts that had supported them when first planted. Little by little, they are being removed. Whilst all 13 MTL discs were still present in 2009, by 2018, just five remained (MTL 1, 2, 9, 12 & 13). Of the other eight, four (MTL 3, 4, 5 & 6) were lost by 2011 with the remaining four (MTL 7, 8, 10 & 11) being lost between 2011 and 2018.