The Table
Now in residency at Blackburn Cathedral. A spectacular 13 metre long ‘Table for the Nation’ was created from a section of the nation’s most significant tree, a gigantic 5000 year old Fenland Black Oak.
‘A Table for the Nation’
at Blackburn Cathedral
Y O U R T A B L E A W A I T S
You can experience ‘A Table for the Nation’ at Blackburn Cathedral, where it is in residency until April 2027. The table is accompanied by an insightful exhibition which details the history of the project, Black Oak and our ancient high forests.
The creative team behind the Fenland Black Oak Project are delighted to see how the table sits within the contemporary aesthetic of Blackburn Cathedral. One of England’s newest cathedrals, it is home to a remarkable collection of modern artworks, and it is a privilege that ‘A Table for the Nation’ now forms part of this collection during the cathedral’s centenary year.
Throughout its residency, the cathedral’s clergy and events team are finding creative ways to bring the table into the life of the building, inviting the local community to gather around ‘A Table for the Nation’.
Blackburn Cathedral stands at the heart of Blackburn, a historic Lancashire town situated around 9 miles east of Preston. The cathedral is easily accessible by both car and public transport, with good road connections via the M65 motorway and regular rail services to Blackburn station, just a short walk from the cathedral.
Please visit Blackburn Cathedral website for further information.
The Fenland Black Oak Table at Ely Cathedral
“Blackburn Cathedral is deeply honoured to be the home to the Fenland Black Oak Table in the coming months. This magnificent work of exceptional skill and artistry is genuinely without equal.
We trust it will inspire everyone who comes to visit it or who gathers around it for the special events we have planned.
As a powerful centrepiece that draws people together, we hope it will stand as a unifying focal point—truly living up to its calling as ‘A Table for the Nation.’”
—The Revd. Canon Andrew Horsfall, Interim Dean of Blackburn
Scale and majesty
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The story begins 5000 years ago when an incredible ancient high forest of massive oak trees once stood deep within the Fenland Basin of East Anglia. Over time, and with a rise in sea levels, these spectacularly tall trees fell into the silt of the flooded forest floor. There they lay, unseen and undisturbed, preserved in the peat for five millennia. Until now...
During routine cultivations in the spring of 2012 on a farm in the Wissington Fens of south-west Norfolk, a 13.2 metre section of one of the greatest of these buried giants was unearthed.
This magnificent tree represented the greatest creative opportunity to give a unique insight into the scale and majesty of the ancient high forests growing 5000 years ago.
Against all odds, specialist craftspeople successfully milled and dried this remarkable discovery, preserving it at full length and in perpetuity.
Discovered in the year of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, it is now known as the ‘Jubilee Oak’. This is one of Britain’s most important oak trees—not just for its vast size and ancient provenance, but for the work of art now fashioned from it.
The planks from the Jubilee Oak have been used to create a unique artefact to form part of our national heritage—‘A Table for the Nation’.
An official inscription carved at one end of the Fenland Black Oak Table acknowledges the tree’s discovery in 2012, in commemoration of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee year. At the opposite end, a second inscription acknowledges the table’s completion in 2022, in commemoration of Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee year.
Following on from its initial residency at Ely Cathedral the Fenland Black Oak Table continues its tour of the country.
The table is currently at Blackburn Cathedral where it will be on public display until April 2027.
A selection of photos of the table’s previous residencies at Ely Cathedral, Rochester Cathedral and Lincoln Cathedral