Ghost Trees: Nature and People in a London Parish

When Bob Gilbert moved to London’s East End, he began to record the natural world of his new inner city patch. Especially the trees: their history, their stories, the trees’ relationship with people. Bob takes a personal journey of exploration through the generations of trees that have helped shape the London district of Poplar, from the original wildwood through to the street trees of today. Drawing from history and natural history, poetry and painting, myth and magic, he reveals the hidden influences that lost landscapes – the ‘ghost trees’ – have had on the shape of the city today. Beautifully written, passionate, flecked with ‘acts of defiance’ against the brutalities of capitalism and urban planning, Ghost Trees captures the very spirit of one unique city community.