The public can find out more about Romsey War Memorial Park’s splendid collection of trees at a free event next Tuesday (September 23).

Dermot Cox, one of Test Valley’s tree experts, is going to lead a walk, which starts at 6.30pm.

When the land known as Street Mead was acquired for the park, it was a meadow used for rough grazing in summer which flooded in winter. In order to turn it into a park, the land level had to be raised and this was done using hardcore from demolished structures of the Remount Depot on Pauncefoot Hill.

Over the years, the rough grassland has been transformed into lawns where people can walk, play or sit. Trees have been planted, where formerly there were few or none. Some trees were planted for landscape reasons and others for commemorative reasons.

Among the latter are the seven plum trees near the tennis courts that were planted by representatives of the town’s seven churches. On the site of the old putting green there are several trees planted in memory of various local people.

The park contains two mulberry trees. One was given by Romsey Town Council on the 400th anniversary of the town receiving its borough charter. James I planted a mulberry tree at Broadlands when he visited to present the town with its charter. There is also a much older mulberry which could be the one planted by Lady Mount Temple Lady Edwina Mountbatten’s step-mother) in 1937 to commemorate the coronation of George VI. When the park was opened in 1921, there was nothing between the gates and the war memorial. Then an avenue of lime trees was planted between the two, and recently some of their lower branches have been removed to give a better view of the memorial.

There are some more exotic trees such as a Caucasian wing-nut and a youthful Indian bean tree. Amongst the younger trees are two katsura trees the leaves of which will smell of honey in the autumn.