The table at left is a bog oak and glass circular dining table,
- the oak is 5,000 years old -
and was originally found in Wereham Fen, Norfolk. Artist Adrian Swinstead secured the bog oak pieces, allowed them to air dry for four years and crafted - reclaimed - them into this circular dining table.
They date from a time when the world was emerging from the last Ice Age.
It was a time of rapidly rising temperature, retreating Ice Cap and rising sea levels. The vegetation across southern Britain contained many areas of oak forest. As the temperatures rose, storms felled whole forests and in the more temperate climate a vegetation of sphagnum mosses and ferns became predominant. This growth entombed the fallen oaks, eventually compacting to form peat and preserving the trees in an acidic and anaerobic environment. These trees have survived millennia due to extraordinary circumstances.
These ancient oaks are a direct link with a time when the people of Britain were just starting to develop agriculture and expressing their connections to the universe through the erection of standing stones.
Over time the colour of the trees has deepened, sometimes achieving a dense black.
Bog Oaks have a profound history.
Swinstead Bog Oak Bowl, above, is made from 5,000 year old bog oak.
The two photographs here left and right show Adrian Swinstead's Sycamore Arch Table, cut from a concave section of tree, Sycamore from Geddington, Northamptonshire, fortified acrylic toughened glass.
This last piece is actually a bench - Sycamore Arch Bench - cut from a concave section of tree, sycamore from Geddington, Northamptonshire with 50 mm plexiglass.
"Cherishing a piece of ancient bog oak to become a thing of beauty after its five thousand years underground is my work, my art and a privilege."
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