‘A 13m long table created from a 5,000-year-old fossilised black oak tree, discovered in the fens will be on display in the Cathedral from 18 May 2022 until March 2023.’
‘The giant black oak tree was found in a field at Wissington Fen in 2012, the year of HM The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. For the past 10 years, a team of privately funded specialist crafts people have created a stunning sculptured table, from the 5000 year old wood, preserving it in perpetuity for future generations to admire and use.’
‘The story begins 5000 years ago when, deep inside the East Anglian Fenland Basin, an incredible ancient high forest once stood. Over time, and a rise in sea level, these spectacular Oak trees fell into the silt of the flooded forest floor where they have been preserved like black treasure in the peat.’
‘In 2012 Hamish Low and his team made an incredible discovery. At over 13 metres long and perfectly preserved they found the buried giant of that ancient high forest.
Against all odds, they successfully milled and dried ‘The Jubilee Oak’ and now this team of master craftsmen are setting out to give this piece of history a magnificent new legacy.’
See – https://www.thefenlandblackoakproject.co.uk/
Someone told me about this, worth a trip to Ely by the look of it!
Ely is always worth a visit and the table is a remarkable and beatutiful piece of work. And there’s Toppings bookshop!