Featuring giant redwood / giant sequoia. Verified occurrence recorded by Redwood World. Thanks to Helen who wrote back in early 2009 about a Giant Redwood in Ipswich, she says " the top got taken off about 30 years ago when it was struck by lightning. We have a short report about it that the previous owners had done 10 years ago by a professional arboriculturalist. It includes measurements at the time (girth at 1.2m was 7.73m then, and height 32.4m) and addresses some of the concerns that the previous owners had, such as it being so close to the house. " In late Summer 2011, while looking around the Suffolk area, we finally paid a vist to this tree and it certainly lived up to the expectation of a grand example of Wellingtonia, with a broad trunk and fine lush foliage. A second girth measurement was taken at 1.2m above ground level as 8.24m. Interestingly, the past few owners of the house have kept correspondence and details of work carried out on this tree since the 1970's. There had been some damage to the top of the tree (probably due to a lightning strike), and this correspondence deals with the application to the council for permission to carry out work owing to the presence of a Tree Preservation order. It appears to have taken quite a few years before the various parties got around to organising the work! Final permission seems to have been given in 1979, although they originally authorised the work to be done in 1974. A report was prepared by a tree surgeon in 1999, giving the tree a clean bill of health.
Visit information
- Access
- Access unknown
- Last verified
- 10 Apr 2026
- Official site
- redwoodworld.co.uk/picturepages/ipswich.htm
Redwood species here
Native to the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, giant sequoias were introduced to Britain in the 1850s during the Victorian plant-collecting era. They are the world's most massive trees by volume and have thrived in the UK's mild, wet climate, often growing faster than in parts of their native range. Many Victorian-era plantings now rival mature specimens in California.
Present. Native to the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, giant sequoias were introduced to Britain in the 1850s during the Victorian plant-collecting era. They are the world's most massive trees by volume
About this place
About Ipswich - The Limes
Ipswich - The Limes is located in Ipswich, Suffolk, England.
Species Present
Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum)
Native to the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, giant sequoias were introduced to Britain in the 1850s during the Victorian plant-collecting era. They are the world's most massive trees by volume and have thrived in the UK's mild, wet climate, often growing faster than in their native range. Many Victorian-era plantings now rival mature specimens in California.
Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)
The tallest trees on Earth, coast redwoods can exceed 100 metres in their native California. Less common in Britain than giant sequoias, they prefer sheltered, moist locations and can still reach impressive heights in the UK. The tallest known coast redwood in Britain is over 50 metres.
Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides)
A deciduous conifer thought to be extinct until rediscovered in a remote Chinese province in 1941. Seeds were distributed to botanical gardens worldwide in the late 1940s. Unlike its evergreen relatives, the dawn redwood loses its needles in winter, turning a striking copper-bronze in autumn.
Data sourced from Redwood World (redwoodworld.co.uk) and enriched by Redwood Finder.