Tree Preservation Orders (TPO)

The Claxton Oak – Peasecod Loke, Claxton – Tree Preservation Order 2025 No. SNO777

The Claxton Oak is estimated to be ~ 600 years old and to date back to Henry IV and Tudor times.  It has survived for centuries on the western boundary of Peasecod Loke, an ancient holloway track providing access from Claxton Manor and its Tudor castle to the nearby pasture, arable fields, and Churches at Ashby St. Mary and Claxton. We can assume that it was never considered a tree suitable for shipbuilding purposes due to its damaged and mishapen trunk and boughs. Fortunately for us, it has survived any interest from local artisans seeking precious timber resources.

It is undoubtedly one of the oldest living organism in Claxton and certainly the most signifcant and best known. Despite its gnarled and creviced condition, it continues to provide a habitat for invertebrates, roosting bats and birds. The eminent natural history writer and broadcaster, Richard Mabey, on a visit ~ 2010 to open Claxton’s ‘Fair on the Yare’, was so impressed with this ancient tree that it prompted an observation that ‘it probably contained  the exhaled breath of all those who had ever lived in Claxton’. As such, it remains a significant symbol of Claxton’s history and ongoing presence from an early Saxon coastal settlement, historically bordering the substantial Yare estuary and its connection with the North Sea inlet between Burgh Castle and Caister.

Following oral representatons by various parishioners, in July 2025 I made an online application to SNDC on behalf of the Parish Council’s biodiversity working group. The intention was to secure statutory protection for the Claxton Oak which in November 2024 had been registered with the Ancient Tree Inventory (identification no 49886).  Following further written submissions to the SNDC and site visits by the Tree Preservation Officers, it was agreed that the tree was worthy of statutory protection due to its age, environmental significance and social relevance to the parishioners of Claxton. Tree Preservation Order 2025 No. SN0777 was subsequently issued on the 24^th October 2025.

Paul Carter

21 February 2026