A famous British oak has been named as the continent's fifth best tree.

At an awards ceremony in Brussel today (March 21), the Gillwell Oak just missed out on a medal position in the European Tree of the Year.

In December the Epping Forest tree trumped nine other shortlisted entrants to be crowned 2017’s best UK tree, winning qualification for the European competition in the process.

Following several intense weeks of voting the oak - which sits in Gilllwell Park, an area near Chingford bought by the Scout Association in 1919 for use as a campsite and activity centre - was beaten to first place by a Portuguese cork tree.

A Spanish ancient elm came second, a Russian oak third and a Hungarian sweet chestnut fourth.

While supporters of the Gillwell Oak may be disappointed it fell short of the grand prize, just shy of 13,000 voters chose it as their European tree of the year.

The oak was used as a scouting metaphor by founder Robert Baden-Powell in 1929 and was a rumoured hiding place of Dick Turpin.