A mighty Bingley oak tree sent to York Minster as part of renovation work after its devastating fire has been replaced nearly three decades later.

Custodians of the St Ives country park, in Harden Road, planted a sapling grown using seeds from the royal estate to replace the former Ferrands Oak, named after the landowning family which bequeathed the park to the people of Bingley.

The 250-year-old tree, which weighed more than 12 tons, was used to re-build the Minster’s south transept in a mammoth refurbishment scheme after the cathedral was ravaged by a huge blaze on July 8, 1984.

Now the Friends of St Ives (FOSI) and the Aire Valley Archers, which use the park, have planted a new royal oak alongside more than 100 other trees provided by the Woodland Trust to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year.

Pam Laking, FOSI chairman, said: “The little royal oak will be a jubilee memorial and provide St Ives with another impressive oak tree, which will, hopefully, stand there for another 250 years.”

At the time that it was felled, the 80ft Ferrands Oak was giving Bradford Council a major headache because it had butt rot and its roots were withering away.

The Council’s countryside officers came up with the idea of donating it to York Minster, whose authorities were looking for mature wood to renovate its gutted transept.

It was removed from the driveway of the St Ives Mansion – the Ferrand family’s ancestral home – in 1990 and replaced by a brass plaque. Another plaque was unveiled at the Minster declaring that the St Ives tree was used in the refurbishment scheme.

The new oak was planted on Saturday with other native species around the archery field at St Ives. Archer John Seymour and other members of the Aire Valley Archers, the Friends of St Ives and Scouts helped to plant the 105 saplings.

A spokesman for the Woodland Trust said it was working with groups to plant six million trees across the country to celebrate the Queen’s 60th year on the throne.

Groups and individuals planting trees can also record their efforts online in the Royal Record of tree planting for the diamond jubilee. For information about the project, visit woodlandtrust.org.uk.