We recently celebrated 400 years of the New River running through our neighbourhood, but there is an even older local landmark just a short distance away.

The Minchenden Oak at Southgate is believed to be  around 800 years old - making it about 400 years old at the time of the gunpowder plotters were meeting nearby in Enfield. It is now one of London's oldest trees.

It's no suprise to find a tree of this age needs a little bit of care - and a recent tree condition report noted that a crack in the trunk could be be exacerbated by the weight of the branches - so specialist tree surgeons have now removed around six tons of wood from the top of the tree to relieve pressure on the base.

A BBC news team made a short report on the remedial work which you can see here.

Photo: Graham c99 via Flickr