World
'Bendy Tree': wonky wych elm in County Down wins UK Tree of the Year
October 8, 2026 at 05:57 AM
A 150-year-old sideways-growing wych elm in Newcastle, County Down, has been named the UK's Tree of the Year.
- The 'Bendy Tree' won the Woodland Trust's annual competition, its trunk grown horizontal by Irish Sea winds.
- The 150-year-old tree survived Dutch elm disease, which destroyed most of the UK's 30 million elms in the 1960s.
- Woodland Trust official May Chemais said the tree has been blasted by extreme winds for over a century while staying rooted.
- The Crowhurst Yew in Surrey, hollowed out as a parish meeting room in 1820, was among the nominees.