Oak Tree Planted in the Centre of Suffolk

The dead centre of Suffolk, as calculated by a lecturer at the University of Suffolk, has become the new home for a commemorative oak tree.

Dr Mark Bowler, Course Leader in Wildlife, Ecology and Conservation Science was among those at the tree planting at Middlewood Green to mark 50 years of the county in its current form and the King’s Coronation. 

Dr Bowler used a definition of the centre called a ‘centroid’, which he likened to “balancing a cut out of the county on the tip of your finger and finding the centre of gravity where it balances”. 

The oak tree sapling was transported from Windsor Great Park to Middlewood Green, near Stowmarket, and other guests include Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk, Claire, Countess of Euston and Suffolk’s High Sheriff, Mark Pendlington.

Dr Bowler said: “The tree symbolises the will of communities and landowners to increase trees and wild habitats in Suffolk, an effort to slow devastating biodiversity loss and lower the county’s carbon footprint.

“The numbers of trees we need for these goals is so high that planting each one will not be possible so we will need the natural regeneration of forest, scrubland and other habitats, across around 30% of our countryside.

Finding a way to return so much privately owned land to nature is the one of the great challenges of our time.”

Watch a video of the tree planting.