Verdun Oaks

One hundred years ago the terrible events of the Battle of Verdun touched the hearts of the British public.
More than 400,000 French and German lives were lost in the longest running battle of the First World War. Verdun’s oak and chestnut forests were devastated, and still today bear the scars of the conflict. 185,000 hectares of forest were destroyed - an area of land bigger than Surrey, where England’s Centenary Wood will stand.

After the fighting ended, acorns were collected from the battlefields and planted in our towns as a tribute to the fallen. Why and how the acorns
came to the UK is an unfolding story and one we would love to complete.

Extracts from newspapers and magazines written at the time provide possible clues.
One story suggests that Lord John French, who led the British into Northern Europe in 1915, took a handful of acorns to commemorate the stand the French had made at the Battle of Verdun.

There are also reports that the Mayor of Verdun sent a box of acorns to the London and North West Railway Company (LNWR) in early 1917 to be sold for the benefit of the War Seal Foundation, a charity which supported ex-servicemen and their families. Sample boxes were sent to mayors in towns and cities along the route of the railway.

Help us find the Verdun Oaks

Today, these smallest of gestures have grown into grand tributes providing shade, enjoyment and homes for wildlife.
The Woodland Trust are asking history buffs to turn detective and help us discover more Verdun Oaks in the hope of growing a new generation in our First World War Centenary Woods so that, in another hundred years, our grandchildren’s children can enjoy them.