Wittekind-Linde, Natural monument in Elbrinxen, Germany.
The Wittekind-Linde is a Large-leaved Lime tree that grows over 30 meters tall with a broad oval crown. The trunk measures around 10 meters in circumference and dominates the churchyard in Elbrinxen.
A storm in the mid-19th century damaged the crown so badly that it had to be cut back. Around 1860 Elisabeth Fürstin zur Lippe had iron bands attached and the eight remaining branches braced with iron rods. These bands were removed during a renovation in 1959, when the crown was stabilised with steel cables; a further renovation in 1973 cost 6,000 Deutsche Mark.
The name Wittekind-Linde recalls Widukind, the Saxon leader defeated by Charlemagne, though the tree itself is documented as 320 to 900 years old. It stands on the raised, village-facing part of the churchyard, amid an abandoned grave field, with the former Jewish cemetery of Elbrinxen just to the northeast.
The tree stands in the lower section of the cemetery next to the Protestant church in Elbrinxen. It is easily accessible on foot from the village center, and there is no entrance fee.
In 1992 the trunk measured 9.3 metres around at 1.3 metres height; by 2016 the girth at breast height was 10.30 metres. The German Tree Archive counts it among trees of national importance, and its age is given in the literature as anywhere from 320 to 900 years.
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