Ash

Description:

The author has been photographing and writing about trees for the last 25 years, and can still remember what the countryside looked like some 50 years ago before the onslaught of Dutch elm disease eliminated almost all the large elms from the British landscape. Very few records were made of those glorious trees and the landscapes they defined. With this in mind he decided to create his own homage to the ash tree before time runs out and our treescape is radically changed once again.

This book looks at every aspect of the ash tree: its visual manifestations as a tree of woodland, pasture, hedgerow, riverside, mountain, parkland and street; raising ash woods and the many different uses of the timber, its cultural significance in place names, folklore, myth and superstition; its inspirational importance for artists, poets and writers; historical landmarks - famous trees past and present and all their fascinating stories; and, of course, the issues arising from the inevitable spread of ash dieback.