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Damory Oak

At one time Blandford could boast of one of the largest oak trees in the country. Known as the ‘Damory Oak’, it is reckoned to date back to the 10th or 11th centuries.

It was said to be 75 ft high and to have a circumference of 68 ft at ground level. As the tree decayed, it became hollow forming a great cavity which could house 20 men. This was 15 ft wide and 17 ft high. During the English Civil War an old man ran the cavity as an ale house. Appropriately, some three centuries later there was a pub nearby at the bottom of Damory Court Street, now closed, that was called the ‘Damory Oak’.

In 1703, the ‘Damory Oak’ suffered greatly in a violent storm when several of its largest branches were torn off. After the Great Fire of Blandford in 1731, the hollow trunk provided shelter to two homeless families.

Sadly, by 1755 the great ‘Damory Oak’ was in a sorry state and was sold for firewood for just fourteen pounds.


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