The Thousand-Year-Old Oak

The Thousand-Year-Old Oak

Highlight • Natural Monument

The Thousand-Year-Old Oak

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Location: Lummen, Hasselt, South Limburg, Flanders, Belgium

Tips

August 15, 2017

Hiking

The Thousand-Year-Old Oak is an oak tree in the hamlet of Mellaar in the Belgian municipality of Lummen. The tree is located in a small forest area north of the Dikke Eikstraat. In that small forest area there are several old oaks that are called the son of the Thousand-Year-Old Oak and the grandson of the Thousand-Year-Old Oak.
The trunk circumference of the Thousand-Year-Old Oak is approximately 6.3 meters. The core of the tree has rotted away.

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Els

April 15, 2021

Hiking

In a circle of wooden posts stands a 'judicial tree', under whose crown, according to Frankish custom, court sessions were held. Until the end of the 17th century, those sentenced to death were brought to the 'Verbrand', as the surrounding fields are still called, for execution. At a height of 1.50 metres, this 24 m high mastodon has a trunk circumference of no less than 6.20 m
Close by is also the Jonge Eik, which has also reached the respectable age of more than 35 years.
Source: walking guide: GR 5/E2 Noordzee- Rivièra - route ter lage landen

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November 18, 2022

Hiking

Under the "thousand-year-old" oak, justice was allegedly administered according to Frankish custom since the Carolingian period. The site near the oak presumably served as a place of execution until the end of the 17th century: witches were supposedly led to the tree to carry out their sentence.

This place is known locally as “Het Verbrand” (The Burned), a reference to the stake on which the condemned met their end. According to specialists, this oak would be 400 to 500 years old.

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