Projects: Tree survey at Lincolnshire’s International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC)

Lincoln Tree Survey at IBCC

The International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC) in Lincoln, is a world-class facility to serve as a point for recognition, remembrance and reconciliation for Bomber Command. During WWII over a million men and women served or supported Bomber Command. They came from 62 nations across the world and were united in their efforts to protect the freedom we enjoy today. Lincoln has been chosen for the site as it provides a central point for all 27 bases that earned Lincolnshire the title of ‘Bomber County’. Bomber Command suffered the highest losses of any unit during WWII but have struggled for recognition and this project aimed to readdress this and to highlight Lincolnshire’s vital contribution to the outcome of the Second World War.

AWA Tree Consultants were appointed to assist the Landscape Design team for the Memorial Park and Memorial Spire for the IBCC. Our Lincoln tree survey covered several distinct arboricultural features at the site, including lines of high value mature Beech trees, which required protection during construction; groups of roadside Ash and Elm, which required management to reduce risk and small wooded groups which required thinning of damaged trees to open views to the site. Our arboricultural advice highlighted how the mature Beech trees would not tolerate significant root disturbance, which informed their protection and the design of the new access to the site.

It is thought that some of the mature Beech trees at the site have old “tree graffiti” engraved on the bark. These historic inscriptions are likely to have been engraved into the tree trunks by troops during the war. As such, these tree trunk carvings or “arborglyphs” provide a fantastic link between the real lives of the troops at the time and the site and its trees today.