Each month, Rachel Lambert of South West Wild Walks will be writing a journal for us, reflecting on the changing seasons and observations on nature and landscape around us. Rosyansow is the Cornish word for wanderings or ramblings, and for the month of November, she has written about the mighty oak.
We’ll be bringing you part two of this journal in December.
Ships, Mining, Diversity and Toothache
“Compared to the oak, man is but a mushroom growth.”
Wayside and Woodland Trees. A Pocket Guide to the British Sylva by Edward Step F.L.S
from The Gardener’s House archive:
The oak is rich with symbolism, stories and heritage, and, here in Cornwall no less so. Oak was key in boatbuilding, making it essential for fishing, both trades going back thousands of years.
For me, there’s something about looking up into the canopy of a great oak. Such a slow-growing tree, inching its spread across the sky and taking its place in the woodland. I have a particular one I like to lie under sometimes at our local Trevaylor woods, just to admire the unique budding and branching system that gives way to dense clusters of those wavy-shaped leaves. There’s one in Morrab Gardens too, if you have a moment to search it out and observe its beauty and presence.
I caught up with Dave Need, a local carpenter, boat builder and trustee of the Cornish Maritime Trust, to talk about all things oak.
“Before concrete and steel, oak was the sought after building material for anything really’. Right here in Newlyn and Porthleven, it helped build people’s estates, strong sea-worthy boats which supported both the fishing industry and the military, helping defend our shores.
“In the last few hundred years, a huge number of oaks were used as upright supports or ‘pit props’ in mines too, making a massive dent in the tree density in this corner of the country and contributing considerably to the country’s economy. ‘Oak helped make this country what it is.”
Dave Need, carpenter, boatbuilder and trustee of the Cornish Maritime Trust
PZ 602 Boy Willie, 1st class wooden sailing lugger built in Newlyn by Henry Peake of Tolcarne in 1897 for James Pender of Mousehole (Newlyn archive reference 3352).
We don’t have any images of local traditional boats at The Gardener’s House archive, so the picture above is from the Newlyn Archive, which holds a wealth of historic memories from Newlyn and its people.
Dave told me that oak would have been used for the frame and beams of a boat. The arching branches of oak lending itself perfectly for the curves of the bow, or ‘keel’ of a boat, creating its all-essential backbone.
As the boatbuilding industry grew, oak plantations were created, but an oak has to be at least 100 years old before it is harvested for timber, so this was definitely a long-term plan. The Cornish Maritime Trust has been offered oaks up to 400 years old to build and preserve their current boats.
I think about the walks I’ve done around the Helford, with decaying oak leaves and acorns under my feet, and will now think about those trees in a completely different way. Oaks grown as a resource, for Francis Drake’s fleet of ships, and to finance our small island.
Cornish-born Merlin Hanbury-Tenison, who recently brought out the book Oaken Bones – Reviving a Farm, a Family and Britain’s Ancient Rainforests (Penguin: 2025), and is the founder of the Thousand Year Project, is a passionate advocate for the oak. The project’s name was even inspired by the native Sessile Oak (Quercus petraea) which can live for hundreds of years, and take up to 300 more to decay.
I remember listening to Merlin speak about his book earlier this year at Penzance’s own Acorn Theatre. Amongst many other facts and stories, Merlin reminded us that the oak supports more life and biodiversity than any other native tree here in the UK. Indeed, oaks are insect’s favourite tree.
Finally, looking in The Gardener’s House archive, I came across an old Cornish folklore belief – which isn’t something I’ll be trying, despite our lack of NHS dentists here in Penzance. Though it did make me think about all the hopes, plans and dreams that have been attached to the mighty oak over its lifetime:
“In Cornwall, a nail driven into an oak cured toothache.”
Baker, 1971