Tree found on Waterford farm dates from 3,500 years ago

The bog oak exudes an almost alarming sense of presence and is indefinably moving to touch.

Tom Joe Murphy seen admiring a large piece of 3,500-year-old bog oak which he found near his home at Knockanore near Tallow, Co Waterford. Picture: Howard Crowdy

A large section of tree trunk stored in a farmyard shed in west Waterford occupies a unique position in Ireland and Britain’s arboriculture.

The darkened remnants, weighing a half ton, are what is left of a once-majestic oak that tumbled into an adjacent bog over 3,500 years ago.