More than £100,000 was awarded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to help safeguard the future of one of the UK's oldest and most important heritage trees - The Great London Plane of Ely, in East Cambridgeshire. Believed to be the first ever National Lottery grant allocated to an individual historic tree, the £121,000 will

More than £100,000 was awarded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to help safeguard the future of one of the UK’s oldest and most important heritage trees – The Great London Plane of Ely, in East Cambridgeshire.

Believed to be the first ever National Lottery grant allocated to an individual historic tree, the £121,000 will allow innovative bracing and pruning work to be carried out on the tree by Italian and UK experts, using groundbreaking techniques for the first time in this country.

The Great London Plane of Ely is situated in the gardens of the Old Bishop’s Palace, which is home to The King’s School Ely Sixth Form Centre. The tree was planted in around 1674, and is believed to have been a gift from King Charles II to the Bishop of Ely.