Wellingtonia 27

Having failed to get around the back to check a possible Wellingtonia spotted in the course of the visit noticed at reference 1, and forgotten about it on the visit noticed at reference 2, or possibly not bothered given that we were on foot, today being on a bicycle, fresh from Jubilee Way, I did bother.

St. Ebba's Way running across the snap from gmaps above, does not feature on Street View, possibly having been suppressed on account of the mental health facilities there, is accessible on a bicycle if one throws a left just past the old water tower, now converted into a desirable residence or two.

The tree in question was right on St. Ebba's Way, top right hand corner of the lower green space, just to the right of the blue spot if you click to enlarge. A tree which is a Wellingtonia, but a tree which was clearly badly damaged in its youth.

Perhaps a tree person could say what the damage was, but I don't compute just at the moment. Perhaps it will come to me.

But at least closer inspection confirmed that it was indeed a Wellingtonia, with the characteristic leaf scales.

A lot of the single storey old blocks appeared to still be in mental health use, but there was also this smart new block, possibly a pair of linked blocks, complete with handsome mature tree out front, visible here top left.

My reckoning is that the left hand part is the Oasis hydrotherapy suite of reference 3, while the right hand part is the myTime facility for people with mental disorders of reference 4. Good that we are still building and landscaping such places, not just recycling the old. Not so good that it appeared, to casual inspection at least, to be closed, perhaps for the duration of the viral problem.

Wellingtonia Census apart, I think this must be the final score at St. Ebba's.

PS 1: as far as I can make out this afternoon, there were two St. Ebba's. Both to do with a large monastery for ladies on the Scottish borders. Founded in the 7th century, troubled by Vikings for a bit, succumbing to Cromwell in the 17th century. So quite a good run. But must consult BH as I had thought that the relevant St. Ebba was not from up north.

PS 2: some time later: thinking about the damage to this Wellingtonia, I have come to the answer that at some point the tree lost its lead shoot. Perhaps some vegetarian bird ate the lead bud. The thing then sprouted all over the place, with the sprout left becoming more or less dominant, more or less replacing the lead shoot. But with the other sprouts right carrying on to disturb things.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/02/wellingtonia-25.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/02/wellingtonia-26.html.

Reference 3: https://www.sabp.nhs.uk/our-services/learning-disabilities/community-teams/oasis.

Reference 4: https://www.sabp.nhs.uk/our-services/learning-disabilities/day-opportunities/mytime-epsom/myTimeEpsom.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coldingham.

Group search key: wgc.