for 30 to 40 feet, stands on high ground in the centre of the park; and at the bottom of the hill near the house is a pollard which seems sound, and is 244 feet in girth at the smallest part of its trunk.
In a grove near Campden, close to Norton House, which has been lately restored by the Earl of Harrowby, I was shown a remarkably tall and clean oak over 100 feet high with a straight bole clean for 60 feet, but only 7 feet 5 inches in girth.
Near Bourton-on-the- Water, on the east side of the road to Stow, stands a pedunculate oak which, of its type, is almost equal in size to any I have seen, and which is specially remarkable on account of the perfect condition of all its branches, which, as Plate 93 shows, are growing to the very tips, and which spread over an area of 115 paces in circumference, equal to that of the Beggar's Oak. This tree grows in a grass field on the property of Mrs. Butler of Wick Hill.[1] It measures about 85 feet high by 224 in girth, and has the appearance of having been pollarded at about 12 feet up very early in life. There are some fine tall oaks at Wick Hill, not far off, measuring 85 feet by 14 feet and 80 feet by 13 feet, and there are still some big ones in the cow pastures at Sherborne Park in the same district. But the best of these were felled fifty years ago by the father of the present Lord Sherborne, who has never ceased to lament their loss.
There are many superb oaks in Earl Spencer's park at Althorp, Northants, which were carefully measured by the former forester, Mr. Mitchell, now at Woburn. Lord Spencer's ancestors were evidently great lovers of trees, and followed a practice which is much to be admired. In Althorp Park are several inscribed stones, giving the date of planting and the name of the planter. The earliest of these is in the Heronry, and is dated 1568.
| Of the others one reads as follows— | Another has the legend— |
| This Wood was planted by | This Wood was planted |
| Robert Lord Spencer | by Sir William Spencer, Knight of the Bath |
| In the year of our Lord, | in the year of our Lord |
| 1602-1603 | 1624 |
| Up and be doing, and God will prosper |
When one sees how small are the trees planted about 300 years ago, when compared with the older trees, one realises the immense time it takes for such oaks to grow. The finest at Althorp is shown on Plate 94. It grows near a farmyard, and is No. 8 in Mitchell's list.[2] It measures about go feet in height, and carries a thick straight stem up to about 45 feet high, and girths 19 feet 6 inches at 5 feet. It must contain at least 1000 feet of timber, and is apparently sound, healthy, and growing, with no signs of decay in the top.[3]
There are some very fine oaks in Burleigh Park, Stamford, the seat of the
- ↑ In 1906 I saw this tree again, and found that a large fungus had attacked its trunk, and that some of the branches were showing signs of decay at the ends. Steps are being taken to preserve it as far as possible.
- ↑ A description of some of the finest trees at this place is given in Trans. Scottish Arb. Soc. xiii. 83.
- ↑ Sir Hugh Beevor measured fifteen oaks standing on one acre ina grove planted at Althorp in 1561–1568, and found them from 100 to 115 feet high, with an average girth of 11 feet 8 inches, and the average cubic contents of the first length of 54 feet was 330 feet. In another plantation, made in 1589 on stiffer soil than the last, there were more trees per acre, but their size was less, the average being go feet by 9 feet 7 inches.
