ONE of the Forest’s hidden gems celebrated its 100th birthday with the friends and family of the man it was named after.
The Cyril Hart Arboretum, which until 1999 was known as the Speech House Arboretum, is a small but extraordinary place that contains more than 200 different species of tree and shrub from around the world.
Past and present staff members of the Forestry Commission joined the Forest of Dean Verderers, past deputy surveyors, arboretum volunteers and many others who have contributed to the arboretum in many different ways.
A spokesperson for the Forestry Commission said: “There is always something of interest to see here throughout the whole year from flowering cherries in spring to Japanese maples in the autumn and enormous evergreen conifers in the winter.”
Anthony Hart, son of Cyril Hart, planted a tree to celebrate the occasion, a cedar of Lebanon raised from seed collected in north Lebanon. He then unveiled a plaque together with Lady Bathurst, High Sheriff of Gloucestershire. A guided walk followed, led by Richard Jinks from Forest Research, with facts and figures about many of the different trees.
Born out of an experiment, the arboretum was used by Foresters testing how some of the newly-discovered conifer species from China could potentially become the forestry species of the future.
The site was chosen carefully for its fertile soil, average rainfall of 950mm and shelter provided by mature oak woodland. An experiment started with a collection of trees raised from seed brought back from Western China in 1910 by a famous plant collector, Ernest H Wilson. More trees were added over the coming years including many from North America. Records show a great number of the species planted died within 20 years due to frosts and fungi which hadn’t been an issue where the trees had originated.
In 1999 the name of the arboretum was changed to the Cyril Hart Arboretum to commemorate Dr Cyril Hart a renowned Forester, who had served as Her Majesty’s Senior Verderer with a lifetime commitment to forestry. He had many years of connection with the arboretum and the Forest of Dean.