Barwick-in-Elmet Historical Society 

The Coronation Tree

 This information is provided by the Barwick in Elmet Historical Society. 

The Coronation Tree, Scholes in the early 1900's

The Coronation Tree in a view taken in July 2003.

The tree was planted to mark the coronation of King Edward VII. The coronation was postponed due to the King having appendicitis. This was not a good omen for the tree as it died and needed to be replaced. We are not sure whether the one in the picture was the unlucky one or its replacement. The original isolated site has changed dramatically since that occasion. The person in the photograph is a local resident, Mr. Weatherall Much has changed in the 100 years between the two photographs. The seats around the tree were demolished by an army lorry in the blackout in the Second World War.
The road is a busy T-junction where traffic from Leeds comes from the left and turns left to Scholes and right to Barwick-in-Elmet. The distant buildings in the first picture are not visible in the later photograph due to the tree and the houses which were built around 1930. At the base of the tree can be seen some of the planting done by villagers as part of the "Scholes in Bloom" initiative.
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