London is a Forest: an historical and environmental perspective

Church Window Mask

Sat 26 Oct 11am

Author Paul Wood’s talk explores London’s tree history, uses, fascinating facts, and offers insights into their future.

  • St James’s aspires to be a place where all can belong, and where every person’s gifts and identities are welcome and celebrated. We are working to improve the experience at St James’s in the church building and the online community. We have step-free access from the courtyard to the church, and a toilet for disabled people. The courtyard and Redemption Roasters coffee shop are wheelchair accessible. If you have special access requirements (e.g. wheelchair users) please contact concerts@sjp.org.uk

  • London is a Forest: an historical and environmental perspective

    Londoners live in a city that has a roughly equal number of human inhabitants and arboreal inhabitants. There are thought to be over 9 million trees in London, and together their canopy covers more than 20% of the city, which means, technically, London is a forest.

    In this illustrated talk, Paul Wood, the author of the book, London is a Forest, will look at the history of trees in the city, their changing use, and he will highlight some fascinating details connected to the trees and offer some thoughts about their future.

    Paul Wood biography
    Paul Wood is a London-based writer, blogger and photographer. He has written three books about trees and urban nature in London: London’s Street Trees (Safe Haven 2017, 2024), London is a Forest (Quadrille 2019, 2022) and London Tree Walks (Safe Haven 2020). Paul is also the editor of the Great Trees of London Map (Blue Crow Media 2021).

    Over the past four years he has been researching and writing a new book entitled Tree-Hunting: 1,000 Trees to Find in Britain and Ireland’s Towns and Cities, to be published by Penguin in 2025. You can find Paul on most social media platforms as @thestreettree, you can visit his website at thestreettree.com, and you can follow his weekly accounts featuring a great British or Irish tree on Substack at thestreettree.substack.com.

    A large Caucasian Wingnut grows at the end of his street.

    Free, but we request that you make a donation via Eventbrite or on the day.