150-year-old elm growing almost horizontally named tree of the year in the UK

A 150-year-old wych elm from Northern Ireland that has grown almost completely sideways has been named the UK's Tree of the Year for 2026 by the Woodland Trust.

The tree stands in the seaside town of Newcastle, County Down, where locals call it the "Bendy Tree." Its odd shape has a simple explanation: for more than a century, it has stood in the path of powerful winds blowing in from the Irish Sea.

This year's competition theme was "against the odds." Organizers looked for trees that survived where their chances were slim, and the Northern Irish elm fit that description better than any other entry.

The elm was planted in the mid-19th century as part of a row of trees meant to shield Newcastle's main street from coastal winds. The others were eventually cut down during redevelopment of the promenade, leaving the Bendy Tree as the only survivor of that planting.

Wind and bulldozers weren't the only threats it outlasted. The tree also dodged Dutch elm disease, a fungal infection spread by bark beetles that wiped out the vast majority of the UK's estimated 30 million elms.

Today, the Bendy Tree is a recognizable landmark in Newcastle. Its branches stretch over a bench on the promenade, shading anyone who sits down for a rest.

The Woodland Trust described the winner this way:

"The gravity-defying Bendy Tree is a much-loved icon on the central promenade and a real fighter. Growing almost horizontally, its incredible shape is testament to the harsh coastal conditions it has withstood for more than a century.

"The Bendy Tree was planted with many others to protect the original Newcastle promenade, likely around the mid-19th century and perhaps as part of the grounds of the new hotel. But many of those trees were felled in the 1980s for redevelopment of the promenade and the Bendy Tree is the last one standing from that era."

The competition was unusual this year. Among the elm's main rivals were:

• a roughly 4,000-year-old yew in Surrey, hollowed out by villagers in 1820 to create a meeting room inside its trunk

• the Culmstock Yew in Devon, which has somehow managed to grow on top of a 20-meter-high church tower

The elm takes the title from a 75-foot ash tree in Glasgow, which won in 2025.