Barnie, a natural wonder in Barnes
And there are thousands more like him across the city and they making living in a heatwave easier - story 105
It is remarkable. A natural anti-heatwave technology that has been around for 350 years old.
There are over 100,000 London plane trees in the city. This ‘cultivated hybrid’ was first recorded in the UK in 1666. Oddly, the first formal record was made at Mortlake in 1939.
The oldest example, Barnie, lives next to the WWT London Wetland Centre in Smoky Wood, Barn Elms. According to Monumental Trees it was probably planted by Sir Henry Hoare in his garden. If measured by girth rather than height, this might be the biggest and oldest London plane.
Their popularity soared after 1870 when Joseph Bazalgette, wanting to copy the French boulevards, planted them above his sewers.
From there they spread across the UK, thankfully.
London planes are an urban superpower hiding in plain sight. They are more than just ornamental. In the age of extreme heat, they are performing quiet feats of climate adaptation. They are, in every sense, living infrastructure: helping Londoners breathe a little easier and sweat a little less.