Throughout 2022, I worked in partnership with Circus Artspace to celebrate the ancient wych elm tree at Beauly Priory. The tree was 800 years old, believed to be the oldest wych elm in Europe and sadly died of Dutch elm disease. The tree was described as a form of “living archaeology,” and fell in January of 2023.

We wanted to celebrate and showcase the heritage and cultural value of the wych elm tree by bringing together the local community with artists, writers and partnership organisations to discover and share new and old stories, memories, archive material and research about the Beauly Wych Elm. We gathered old stories and created new ones through an open call and a series of engagement events. We hosted a tree celebration event in the grounds of Beauly Priory to commemorate the tree’s life and share its story. All of the stories and creative work generated through the project has been collated and made into a limited edition publication.

The project aimed to encourage dialogue about the implications of climate change, disease spread and ecological loss in the Highlands as well as celebrate our relationship with an ancient Scottish tree.