Aubépine de Bouquetot, la Belle Épine

Bouquetot

It is neither an oak nor a yew, but a common hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna, clipped into a ball since the middle of the 19^th century, whose hollow trunk stands thanks to an iron pivot and tie-rods. It measured 2.21 m in girth in May 1891, when the Rouen naturalist Henri Gadeau de Kerville came to measure it, and 2.75 m in 2013. Gadeau de Kerville then gave it more than five hundred years; today it is credited with six to seven centuries, which would make it one of the oldest hawthorns in France. Tradition relates that it was planted around 1360, under the future Charles V, to celebrate the return of Normandy to the crown of France; the commune's article puts forward 1355, the year when Charles, king only in 1364, received the duchy of Normandy. Nothing proves it, but the date agrees with the naturalist's estimate, and he also recalled that hawthorns were once used to mark the boundaries of Norman plots: the Belle Épine may be no more than the last of these territorial markers. No religious belief attaches to it. Around 1860, the mayor Mattard had it girdled with iron and supported by stone props. The ensemble formed by the church, the calvary, the churchyard, the hawthorn and the two yews was listed in 1925; the tree received the Arbre remarquable de France label in 2001 and has appeared since 2009 in the inventory of intangible cultural heritage, for the place it holds in the village festivities. It is still alive and flowers every year.

Wikipédia — Aubépine de Bouquetot ↗

Getting there : From Bourg-Achard (exit from the A13), a few kilometres westwards to the village of Bouquetot; the tree can be seen at all times near the churchyard and the church, freely accessible. It flowers every year in spring, the season of the village fête. One can park in the village and walk round the listed ensemble, church, calvary, churchyard and yews.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound