In Lincoln Cathedral for the next 10 months or so is a 13m long table, created from a section of the nation’s most significant tree, a gigantic 5000-year-old Fenland Black Oak.
In 2012, the year of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, an exceptionally well-preserved section of black oak was found in a field in Norfolk – this became known as the Jubilee Oak. It is thought that the tree would have originally stood more than 55 metres tall, before falling into the peat where it lay undisturbed for 5,000 years.
The Fenland Black Oak project, led by Hamish Low, carefully dried and processed the valuable wood and worked with designers to find the best way to preserve this rare discovery. They chose a table as it allowed the wood to be kept at its full length, and to be viewed in all its glory.
The photograph doesn’t, and simply can’t, display its sheer size and craftsmanship.
