North West Relief Road: Artist paints 'Darwin Oak' in bid to save it

An artist has joined a campaign to stop a 500-year-old oak tree being felled to make way for a bypass to be built outside Shrewsbury.

Known as the Darwin Oak, after naturalist Charles Darwin who lived in the town, it is on the route of the North West Relief Road which was backed by councillors last month.

Artist Daniel Llywelyn-Hall has painted and decorated around the tree.

Shropshire Council said many new trees will be planted as the road is built.

However, at a council meeting on 31 October, one resident who objects to the plan raised concerns about a total of nine "irreplaceable veteran trees" that are all under threat.

More than 19,000 people have so far signed a petition to save the oak.

Mr Llywelyn-Hall, who painted a portrait of the Queen in 2013, uses his artwork to help campaign to keep ancient trees and said he wanted to make more people aware of the threat to the Darwin Oak and other trees.

"I'm here really to draw this oak and similarly draw attention to its plight," he said.

"It's a way people can interact and engage with the campaign, without, if they're not able to, being here they can at least look at different perspectives.

"Essentially what we're looking at is an ancient tree, of which oaks in some ways all look sort of similar, but what this does is it kind of contextualises it and it brings people's attention to the site."

He said he hoped Darwin had encountered the tree growing up in the area.

"I'm led to believe and I do believe that Darwin, as a young boy, would have been a passer by through these fields," he said.

But even if he did not, the tree was still part of his landscape, he said.

Campaigners and fans of the tree are set to assemble next to it on 26 November.

They have urged as many people as possible to paint and photograph it themselves, with a view to exhibiting them locally and online afterwards.

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