Ancient & Veteran Trees
Ancient Beech in Fineshade in its former glory
Ancient & Veteran Trees in the Forest
In 2026 join us to find, celebrate, record the oldest trees of Rockingham Forest.
And then let's see if we can grow new trees from them.
Very old trees have great importance ecologically and often have strong connections to our folklore, heritage and history - people tend to treasure such trees, whether or not they own the land where they grow. lt is therefore crucial to record where they are and why they are of importance to us. A citizen-science project, the Ancient Tree Inventory, (ATI) has been run by the Woodland trust since 2004 and this allows members of the public to easily record basic information and to plot and view records online.
Currently Rockingham Forest has far less records than other comparable areas of former royal hunting forests and we intend to try to remedy that. Trees that are hundreds of years old have already survived a changeable climate with many periods of drought, flood and disease. Perhaps there is something in their make-up that sets them apart from those trees that have not survived. It is therefore prudent to try to propagate from these survivors and include their offspring in new tree-planting projects. This is also something we will be encouraging.
​
We hope you will want to take part in this, our new mini-project for 2026, so please read on!
An ancient Oak tree - in Old Sulehay Forest. It must have been coppiced long ago.
What are Ancient, Veteran and Notable trees?
What makes an old tree a "veteran" and when does it become "ancient"? And if it's neither of those can it still be "notable"? These are really not easy questions to answer - but please don't let that put you off recording old trees.
The Ancient Tree Inventory uses all three categories and describes them in detail here. The table on the right is a useful summary.
​Ancient and veteran trees can often be found in Royal Forests, former deer parks and wood pastures. Many of the parks attached to the big estates in Rockingham Forest have collections of old trees (See here).
However, they can also be found within farmland, in urban areas, in tree avenues, in churchyards, in hedgerows or orchards and on private land or gardens.
​
About the Ancient Tree Inventory (ATI)
The Woodland Trust's national Inventory is recognised as the UK's most important record of old trees with hundreds of thousands of records having been collected over the 22 years since its inception.
Over the years the on-line support for the project has improved dramatically so that it is now very easy to enter data and to use the interactive map. This is supported by a wealth of resources and short videos telling you how to recognise the types of old tree, the various species and how to do the recording.
Ancient trees
An ancient tree is in the third and final stage of its life with a very wide, hollow and decaying trunk and with deadwood in the canopy. How old an ancient tree is depends on the species.
Veteran trees
A veteran tree will have some of the features found on an ancient tree, but won't have the great age. Although they're not as old as ancient trees, they're still incredibly important.
Notable trees
Notable trees are usually mature trees which may stand out in the local environment because they are large in comparison with other trees around them.
This is what the ATI map showed for our area in January 2026. There are a few well-recorded areas and some large expanses with no records at all - are there really no old trees in Corby? Of course there are, but they just haven't been recorded yet!
Do you want to see your local area in more detail? Follow this link and search for your town, village or postcode.
If you want to see details and pictures of particular trees, you can click first on its marker and then on the text box that opens.
Help fill in the gaps - can we double the number of records in our area in 2026?
How to get involved
Gallery of pictures
First steps....
-
Spend some time looking at videos and resources on the ATI website.
-
Register as an ATI volunteer and choose Rockingham Forest Vision as your "Recording Organisation".
-
Make sure you can record 10-figure grid references on your mobile phone or GPS unit. (Many possibilities, eg the GridpointGB App.)
-
Get hold of a 10m tape measure. (Available online for a few pounds)
​​
Get going...
-
Go walking and find some old trees. Perhaps concentrate first on the parish, town or area where you live.
-
Take some photos, record the species, location, measure the girth.
-
​Back at home record the tree on the ATI website.
​
And then maybe...
-
Tell us what you are doing so we can feature your findings and provide support. Keep in touch.
-
Contact local landowners and ask for permission to record on their land.​​
(We may be able to help.) -
Look for opportunities to collect seed etc. to propagate from the trees you have found.
​​
Contact us now
Do you have time to help us with this new mini-project?
Maybe you could volunteer to help with the organisation and publicity?
We'd love to hear from you - do get in touch with us (that's Adam Cade and Barrie Galpin) via this link and tell us how you can help.
Just some of the old trees in Rockingham Forest. Last updated 18th February
Near Laxton Hall
Old Sulehay Nature Reserve
Near Fineshade Abbey
Near Laxton Hall
More about Ancient and Veteran Trees
Girth in relation to age
Here's a useful chart from the Ancient Tree Forum. Click on the chart or download their entire book: Ancient and other veteran trees: further guidance on management.
Habitat features
Click of this diagram from the Ancient Tree Forum. It points out some of the habitat features you might see on very old trees.
Threats
Ancient and veteran trees are being lost through:
-
Development for buildings and roads
-
Felling because they are thought unsafe or unsightly
-
Damage to trees and roots by ploughing or trampling by cattle or cars
-
Changes in ground water level due to drainage
-
Stress due to drought, disease, storm damage or pollution
​
Local Nature Recovery
The recently published Local Nature Recovery Strategy for North Northamptonshire commits the council to the following practical actions:
052. Manage ancient and veteran trees, and identify successors to ensure habitat continuity
060. Retain mature, dead, and dying standing trees in existing woodlands to provide bat roosting habitat
​
Management
Management of most veteran trees should be minimal. Branches should only be cut to make them safe and prevent further damage. Some like riverside veteran Willows can be pollarded, and others, like the huge boles of veteran Small-leaved Limes, can be coppiced.
Protection
Ancient and veteran trees in the UK do not have automatic, specific legal protection. Those in designated sites such as SSSIs are protected, but this only accounts for about 20% of the recorded ancient and veteran trees.
​
Outside protected areas some have Tree Preservation Orders on them. Others have species associated with them which are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act such as bats, hole nesting birds and rare beetles.
The National Planning Policy Framework requires planning policies and decisions to protect ancient woodland and ancient/veteran trees, requiring "wholly exceptional" reasons for development that would result in their loss. Local authority planning regulations often require a buffer zone or Root Protection Area to prevent damaging the tree's roots during building construction.
​​​Organisations like the Woodland Trust are campaigning for better legal recognition, including the creation of a "Heritage Trees List" similar to that for listed buildings.