Appealing Ealing - The Elephant Tree

Been away for a few days to recover post-publishing day and have returned with storytime about The Elephant Tree, an old oak just off Castlebar Road.

Now, you may not have heard of The Elephant Tree but Paul Wood (who is otherwise known as @thestreettree) has done his research which I’ve partly shared below - the tree features in his book, London Tree Walks, which can be bought (signed!) from https://thestreettree.com/product/london-tree-walks-by-paul-wood/

“A few months ago, I heard the strange tale of an oak tree in Ealing which marks the spot where an elephant is buried. My interest increased when one of my Twitter friends, a former gardener, told me she had uncovered a huge bone while doing some work nearby.

“Back in the days when any self-respecting circus had a menagerie of badly-treated animals as part of its entertainment, great processions of clowns, acrobats, caged tigers, feather-adorned horses and semi-comatose elephants would progress slowly through towns and cities drumming up business before they pitched their big top in the local park.

“And so it was back in 1889, as a circus was trooping down Ealing’s Castlebar Road, when one of its four-legged stars expired. Being of such bulk, the deceased animal was buried, presumably with little ceremony, on the spot it fell: the junction with Carlton Road. Such a memorably macabre event must have impressed those who witnessed it, the fact that the story circulates to this day is testament to that.”