A living link to the origins of Carnoustie continues to thrive – a year from the day it was feared lost forever.
As Storm Gerrit blasted Angus and the east coast of Scotland on December 27 2023, the Angus town’s Dibble Tree stood in its destructive path.
The broad willow had been a symbol of Carnoustie from the day it took root 226 years earlier.
Local legend has it the willow sprouted when town founder Tammas Louson stuck his wooden dibble in ground he bought ‘for a song’ between East Haven and Barry.
And over the following two centuries the community grew around it.
The Dibble Tree even survived a lightning strike in the 19th century. It split the trunk almost to its roots.
But though the tree rose again, there were real fears it had met its end at the hand of Mother Nature last year.
Famous tree pollarded after Storm Gerrit damage
In January, tree surgeons took their chainsaws to its broken limbs.
Gerrit’s ferocity left only the main trunk standing.
However, a prediction the Dibble Tree would reveal itself to be a hardy specimen has proved correct.
At the scene of last year’s disaster, tree surgeon Jan Coggins said the Dibble’s middle was badly decayed.
But his confidence the willow would re-grow was well founded.
While its new growth is more a tuft than a glorious array of broad branches, locals are delighted it has survived.
The brush with disaster has also helped propagate the Dibble story – literally – for future generations.
Colourful Carnoustie organised for cuttings from the tree to be sold locally during the summer.
“The Dibble has sprouted amazingly and we updated the sign beside the tree,” he said.
“Wee dibbles were very popular and the money raised went to Carnoustie Church and, at gala day, to Colourful Carnoustie.
“I planted a ring of them behind the Lowson memorial bench in the Rest Garden and three others in an area near Westhaven.”
It seems Storm Gerrit may not have been an ill wind after all.
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