Marton Oak
The Marton Oak is a large, ancient pedunculate oak in the village of Marton, Cheshire.
The tree's girth was measured by Pollard as being at off the ground, making it the UK's largest and widest tree since the collapse of the Newland Oak in Gloucestershire, surpassing trees such as the Bowthorpe Oak in Lincolnshire and the three large sweet chestnut trees at Canford School, Dorset. The tree is believed to be 1,200 years old, and is thought to be in the latter stages of its lifespan, as most of the heartwood has rotted away. The tree split into sections centuries ago, but they have one and the same root system. It is not known what the tree looked like before it split.
Identification
For over 200 years this tree appears to have been misidentified as a sessile oak. In August 2025, Benedict Pollard, founder of Mighty Fine Oaks, was gathering acorns from the tree, with permission from the landowner, and noted that they were growing on long peduncles, and the leaves were mostly auriculate at the base – these characters belonging to pedunculate oak according to the botanical key to the genus Quercus in Clive Stace's New Flora of the British Isles. Aljos Farjon, author of Ancient Oaks in the English Landscape, had also identified it as Q. robur on a visit in June 2016. After discussing with Pollard, he notified the Ancient Tree Inventory who updated its identity on 12 December 2025.
Health
Splitting is common in ancient sessile and pedunculate oaks, and poses no immediate health risk to the tree.. The tree looks in very good health as of August 2025, and had a crop of at least tens of thousands of good acorns in the 2025 'mast year'.
Location and status
The tree grows on private land. Permission must be sought from the owner before the tree can be viewed. The oak has been registered as a Heritage Tree, a Tree of National Special Interest, one of the 50 Great British Trees selected in 2002, and is designated a UK champion tree for girth.