Northern Ireland's 150-year-old 'Bendy Tree' is crowned UK Tree of the Year for the first time after winning 30% of the public vote

From the Newshound archive · first published 8 October 2026 · last updated 9 October 2026.

A wych elm on Newcastle, County Down's seafront promenade has become the first Northern Ireland tree to win the Woodland Trust's annual UK Tree of the Year title, beating nine rivals in a public vote run from July to September. Its trunk grows almost horizontal after 150 years of battering by Irish Sea coastal winds, and it is the last survivor of a row of elms felled during 1980s redevelopment. Woodland Trust NI director John Martin called it a testament to nature's resilience, and Woodland Trust ancient tree lead May Chemais said the tree had 'struck a chord' with tens of thousands of voters.

The wych elm also survived Dutch elm disease, the fungus that wiped out most of Britain's 30 million elms in the 1960s.

Its rivals included a Surrey yew containing an embedded English Civil War cannonball and a Devon yew that has grown from a church tower for 200 years.

Newcastle council placed a bench beneath the elm's canopy, where visitors can sit in its shade and look out over the Mourne Mountains and the sea.