Johnson’s Willow stands beside Stowe Pool in Lichfield. Planted around 1700, the original tree became famous for its great size and its connection with Lichfield’s most famous son, Samuel Johnson {1709-1784}- author, lexicographer and humanitarian. When Johnson was young, he would have often seen the Willow, which stood next to his father’s parchment factory, and whenever he returned to Lichfield in his later years. He is reported to have described it as the delight of my early and waning life.
The Willow also attracted the interest of the Lichfield poet Anna Steward {1742-1809} and the American poet Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson {1737-1801}.
In 1781 Johnson asked Dr Trevor Jones of Lichfield to write a detailed description of the tree, which is still an important source of information.
In 1787 Fergusson wrote two long ‘Odes on the Litchfield Willow’, in
which she celebrated Johnson and other cultural figures who might have walked and studied under the Willow’s boughs; she also used the tree and its its ancestors as a metaphor for the transmission of civilisation and the arts from the ancient world to modern Britain. She expressed the hope that the Lichfield Willow’s ‘Emblematic Boughs’ would ‘ages Hence wave ore the Brows/Of true Poetic Swains’.
Three stanzas from Fergusson’s first Willow ode are quoted below.
In her second ode, she expressed the hope that a cutting of the Willow would one day reach America to symbolise the spread of cultures from Britain to the New World; this hope was finally realised in 2024 by the planting of cuttings at Graeme Park near Philadelphia {Fergusson home}, Vassar College {New York State} and other locations in the USA.
Oh may we hope some tender twig,
The Willow well can Spare
Some thriving, blooming, verdant, Sprig;
May yet be wafted Here!
Because of the Willow’s association with Johnson, many later visitors came to view it. The tree eventually became decayed, and in 1829; however, a cutting from it was planted on the site in 1830 to become the Second Willow, which was itself blown down in a great storm in 1881.
The Third Willow – again a true descendant – was not planted out beside Stowe Pool until 1898; in 1956 it was found to be unsafe, and was felled after cuttings had been taken to raise a new tree.
The Fourth Willow was planted in 1959 as part of the celebrations of the 250th anniversary of Johnson’s birth. Because of decay and concerns over safety, it was felled on 8th October 2021, after being pollarded in 2014, 2016 and 2018 to prolong its life.
The importance of preserving the tradition of Johnson’s Willow had, however, been recognised by both Lichfield District Council and the Johnson Society, who had been working together to repeat the replanting process once again. In 2018, cuttings were taken from the current tree; these were tended and raised by the District Council’s Parks Department, and one of the saplings grown from them became the fifth incarnation of Johnson’s Willow.
The Fifth Willow was planted on 2nd November 2021 with a ceremony which included the reading of a new poem about Johnson’s Willow by Sarah Dale, hers was the winning entry in the Johnson Society’s Willow poetry competition.
Today, Johnson’s Willow is an important part of Lichfield’s heritage, and remains, for residents and visitors alike, a much-loved link with Johnson and his age.
Johnson and His Willow
Sure Phoebus’ Son was Johnson named
He various talents Shared!
Verse, Genius, Knowledge, Wisdom claimed
A Genuine Bard Declared!
His native Soil he oft Retrod,
which Reared this wondrous Tree;
With filial Love marked the abode
Of Both their Infancy.
Thus when in Future each is known
to Bloom with lengthened years
He like His kindred Willow Shown
yet Vernal both appears!
Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson,
‘Two Odes on the Litchfield Willow’
(extract from first ode,
transcribed from manuscript,
with modernised spelling)
Johnson’s Willow stands on the north side of Stowe Pool in Lichfield. To
reach it from the cathedral end of Dam Street, turn down Reeve Lane, then take the path nearest to the pool, which runs along the embankment; the Willow is located next to this path, at the point where the parallel lower path is joined by one running from Gaia Lane (see map).
Johnson’s Willow crosses the pond
The Johnson Society – which co-ordinated the project as a whole – presented bronze plaques for the cuttings at Vassar College and Graeme Park. Ceremonies were held at both sites in September 2025; these were attended by representatives of the Johnson Society, who were grateful for the hospitality shown to them, for the appreciation of the work that had gone into the project, and for the care being taken of the young willows.
The Johnson Society wishes to thank Paul Niven of Lichfield District Council, Dr Sage Thompson and Dr Joseph Foster of the United States Department of Agriculture, Professor Robert DeMaria, Jr and his colleagues at Vassar College, and Carla Loughlin and Beth MacCausland of Graeme Park for their support and participation in this project. Thanks also go to the staff and volunteers at Vassar College and Graeme Park who devotedly care for the young willows.
Further reading: John Winterton, ‘“This vegetable and unparalleled wonder”:
Johnson’s Willow’, The Transactions of the Johnson Society 2017, pp. 30–49
(updated in subsequent editions of Transactions).
For the Johnson Society (Lichfield), visit http://www.thejohnsonsociety.org.uk.
Text © John Winterton, 2019, 2022 and 2025.
Cover: the Fifth Willow on 12 July 2025 (photo © John Winterton).
Page 3, top left: Samuel Johnson (© Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum).
Page 3, top right: the First Willow (European Magazine, September 1804).
Map © OpenStreetMap contributors (www.openstreetmap.org/copyright).
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