The Tortwort Chestnut

The sweet chestnut, Castanea sativa, south of St. Leonard's at Tortworth (South Gloucestershire), is probably 1000 years old (give or take a few hundred years). All the trunks around the main trunk are layered branches and new growth from the roots. The tree is still thriving and fruits each year. St Leonard's itself (in the background of this comparatively young sweet chestnut) was built in the latter part of the 15th Century.