Beautiful tribute to soldiers in A3’s Canadian maples

Many motorists are unaware they are passing through a treasured memorial on the A3 in Hampshire.

Some 418 majestic maples – Canada’s national tree – represent the lives of servicemen who died in the First or Second World Wars.

The men, who had been at a local Canadian training base, died at Bramshott. They are buried in Bramshott Churchyard, St Joseph’s in Grayshott and at Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey.

Mark Chambers, 29, took the breathtaking photograph last Sunday.

The marketing manager from Hampshire said: “I have been visiting and photographing the area, very near to where I live, for the last three or four years now and I have gradually learnt more about the significance of the trees.”

The original memorial on the A3 was installed after the Second World War and consisted of sycamores, but these were later deemed a hazard to road users.

Brought over from Canada, the group of maples is intended “as a continued memorial to those who gave their lives in defence of freedom”, a plaque reads.

The most recent maple planting was carried out in 1995 – and, in 2008, a pedestrian underpass opened, allowing people to cross the motorway to pay their respects while marvelling at the trees.

Mark added that he bought his own camera in early 2021 during lockdown as a “creative outlet during those isolated times”.

Elsewhere, a flourish of rust and gold-tinged leaves created a gorgeous display on The Coniston Hotel’s estate in North Yorkshire.