Sappling from Dunipace's famous sweet chestnut King Tree planted

Last week, a sapling grown from the famous Dunipace sweet chestnut tree - which is between 300 and 400 years old - was planted near to the original.

The tree is the emblem of Denny and Dunipace Heritage Society and Stewart Johnston (80) says the idea to grow a young version came to him when he joined the society after he retired in 2004.

He soon became secretary and decided to plant some seeds of the famous castanea sativa to see what would happen.

In autumn 2006, Stewart collected a plastic bag full of chestnuts and planted around 50 or so in one of the raised beds in his garden.

Next spring, he was pleased to see three of them growing.

However, a hard winter in 2007 left him with only one, which he carefully nurtured for several years.

Eventually, Stewart stood down from the heritage society and, as he "wasn't getting any younger" he also handed the young tree to the care of Kirk Watson, who is now secretary.

This week it was finally planted, and Councillor Paul Garner joined the gardeners for the occasion.

The older tree - with its diameter of eight feet - is all that remains of Herbertshire Castle and the once grand estate that dominated the area.

Falkirk councillors want your views on how to clean up communitiesRetired Larbert couple accidentally bombarded with coronavirus...

Sweet chestnut trees were said to be a favourite of Mary Queen of Scots and several were planted in estates across Scotland at that time - with the Dunipace tree now one of the oldest and most impressive.

Known as either the King Tree or the Hanging Tree, it's so highly regarded that when it was attacked by fungus, it was treated and then filled with concrete to keep it alive.

Stewart now hopes the young tree will improve the pollination rate of its impressive ancestor.

He is delighted to see it planted - and not just because of the legacy he's helping to preserve.

He said: "We're adding to the number of trees in the world to gobble up this CO2 - and the more trees that are planted the better."

Thank you for reading this article on our free-to-read website. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

Please consider purchasing a subscription to our print newspaper to help fund our trusted, fact-checked journalism.

https://www.localsubsplus.co.uk/nord/dm/FKH/V