It's easy enough to find out that this tree was planted around 1900 but no source I can find actually says why! But it is thought to be one of the oldest and largest Indian Bean trees in the UK.
Anyway, this is a simple one-stage multi which begins at the Indian Bean Tree in St. James Square in Monmouth. Catalpa bignonioides is an unusual tree in the UK as it is a native of the southeastern United States around the Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi areas and is commonly known as the Cigartree and the Indian Bean tree. Flowering in July, it produces lovely trumpet-shaped blooms followed by long, thin bean-like fruit which contain numerous seeds. The flowers I have to say are rather pretty and are accompanied by light, bright green leaves and the pods last well into winter, even in our relatively cooler climate compared to it's native home.
The tree was joined in the square by the Monmouth War Memorial in 1921 and had a calm and relaxed time until 2005 when a visiting 'Wales-in-bloom' judge commented that they thought the tree was about to die, a comment the town council took to heart and decided to have the tree destroyed, citing the usual health and safety/litigation issues, saying that parts of the 'dying' tree could collapse and cause injury to people or property.
Residents were unhappy with this though and the Monmouth Town Council, Monmouth Archaeological Society, and Monmouth Action Group collaborated and hired an arboriculturalist to assess the tree with the result being that the tree surgeon said that the Catalpa was “an outstanding part of our tree heritage and worthy of the effort and expense involved in its management.” He recommended treatment of the Indian Bean Tree to reduce the associated risks and to extend the life of the tree.
The council however undertook a second analyis by another expert, but whom came up with a similar assessment except that he thought the tree wouldn't last long even if it was treated - but, importantly, that he regarded it as safe.
Regardless, the council sought bids to have it felled claiming that it was still dangerous, particularly due to the closeness of a school (presumably Monmouth Comprehensive which is over 200 metres away!) Archaeologist Stephen Clarke, chairman of the Monmouth Action Group, suggested that there was a conflict of interest with regard to the actions of the Monmouthshire County Council. He indicated that council members were "the guardians of the conservation area and so they just give themselves permission. The locals can do very little about it."
Following this a third expert opinion was recruited in January 2006 with their evaluation being that while the tree was in poor health, it was "far from dying."
Yet another opinion was sought which advised that any risk posed by the Catalpa could be diminished with a two-fold approach: cutting back the top of the tree and supporting the main branches. This proposal was finally met with approval from the council and the work was carried out in April 2006.
As you will see the tree still thrives today and makes a great centrepiece for St. James' Square.
(Much of the above information sourced from Wikipedia.)
The Cache
To find the small/medium sized cache you will need to visit the published co-ords where you will find the war memorial next to the tree. Answer the questions below using only the south-facing 1914-1918 plaque, put the answers into the co-ord formula at the bottom and take the short walk to GZ.
The number of letters in the surname of the 12th soldier down (Hampshire Regt) is A
The row number on the list that Private G. Kings is, is B
The number of soldiers from the S.W.B. is C
The number of letters in the surname of the last soldier on the list is D
The position in the alphabet of Sapper Reed's first initial is E
The number of initials in the first soldier's name is F
The number of Sappers (SPR) is G
The number of Jones's is H
The cache is at N51 4A.BCD W002 4E.FGH