Bog Oaks Are Prehistoric Trees

They date from a time when the world was emerging from the last Ice Age.

It was a time of rapidly rising temperature, retreating ice cap and rising sea levels. The vegetation across southern Britain contained many areas of oak forest. As the temperatures rose, storms felled whole forests and in the more temperate climate a vegetation of sphagnum mosses and ferns became predominant. This growth entombed the fallen oaks, eventually compacting to form peat and preserving the trees in an acidic and anaerobic environment. These trees have survived millennia due to extraordinary circumstances.

These ancient oaks are a direct link with a time when the people of Britain were just starting to develop agriculture and expressing their connections to the universe through the erection of standing stones.

Over time the colour of the trees has deepened, sometimes achieving a dense black.

Bog Oaks have a profound history.