Catalpa

Passing to the rear of St James Piccadilly, I noticed this sign - their historic catalpa tree, among the market stalls at the front of the church, had had to be cut down.Indeed, where it used to beis now just a patch of earth, with part of the trunk left behind among the market stalls
How old was it - "one of the oldest of its kind in the country", apparently.
Ah - it was planted in 1928 and these trees have a 60-year lifespan...

It was quite large, but not leaning, in the 1940s - here's the bomb-damaged church -
Read about other great trees in London here. They include an elm on Marylebone High Street.