A year without a summer? Sounds awful.
But evidence for such an annus horribilis has been found in the rings of a tree that will be used in sprucing up one of the two surviving Norfolk wherries.
Planks from the 250-year-old oak, grown on the Sandringham Estate, will help maintain the Wherry Maud, which is based in Great Yarmouth.
The tree’s rings show the damage caused in 1816 by a volcano in the East Indies which wiped out summer in Europe.
The planks will be used for maintaining the Wherry Maud, which is based in Great Yarmouth.
The oak had recently been cut down during estate management in the woodland around Sandringham.
Mike Barnes, a trustee for the Wherry Maud, selected the timber and arranged conversion of the log into sawn boards.
Examination of the tree’s annular rings revealed the tree was planted in the reign of King George III around 1775.
A tight collection of rings was evidence of the so-called ‘year without a summer’ caused by the massive 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies.
The Wherry Maud Trust welcomes new members via this link.
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