HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



'205 



THE OLDEST TEEES IN BEITAIN. 



EVERAL mq^^iries 

 have been made in 

 Science-Gossip (pp. 

 91, 142, and lU) as 

 to the oldest tree or 

 trees in Britain, and 

 it would be interest- 

 ing to collect statistics as to 

 very old trees now in exist- 

 ence, their dimensions, situa- 

 tions, and any traditions known 

 respecting them. But it would 

 be well first to ascertain what 

 has been already noted on the 

 subject, and whether the trees 

 already recorded as of great 

 size and age are still standhig. 

 Strutt's " Silva Britannica" 

 may be consulted as to re- 

 markable trees actually seen 

 and sketched by him, and 

 Evelyn's old work on "Eorest 

 Trees," as well as Gilpin's " Eorest Scenery," as 

 edited by Sir T. Dick Lauder, contains many refer- 

 ences to old patrician trees. I fear that some of the 

 trees mentioned by these authors are no longer in 

 existence, and therefore it would be advantageous 

 to collect evidence on the subject, and give parti- 

 culars as to the old forest veterans now remaining 

 alive. 



Your correspondent " J. R. S. C." says that the 

 " size or appearance " of a tree gives "no conclusive 

 evidence " as to its age. Not, perhaps, exactly ; 

 but its size and venerable aspect, in comparison with 

 trees whose age is known, must unquestionably 

 give it a claim to hoary antiquity. If we see a 

 massive trunk like that of the Moccas Oak, in 

 Herefordshire, a well-known aged tree, whose por- 

 traiture has been engraved, looking like a battered 

 castellated tower, and hollow within, we may feel 

 assured that it has attained extreme old age. And 

 why should it be suggested that there are no British 

 trees existent whose age exceeds a thousand years? 

 No. 108. 



Those who have written on and paid special atten- 

 tion to the subject, have judged otherwise, as 1 

 would undertake to show, though I might hesitate 

 to agree with Pliny that in his time there were oaks 

 in the Hercynian Eorest — " rohonim vastitas intadci 

 (svis" — coeval with the beginning of the world 

 itself. Still, I should confidently say that there are 

 now in our island yews and oaks that may faii'ly be 

 computed as exceeding 1,500 years in age, if not 

 approaching to 2,000, or even beyond that. The 

 Eortingal Yew, in Scotland, now only a ruined shell, 

 was considered by Mr. Strutt, who has figured the 

 tree, from all the evidence he could collect, to be 

 about 2,500 years old. Pennant gives its girth as 

 56 feet G inches, and if still alive, this Eortingal 

 Yew is probably the oldest tree in Britain ; 

 though the "superannuated yew-tree growing now 

 in Bvaburne churchyard, Kent" (thus mentioned 

 in Evelyn's " Silva," edited by Dr. Hunter, p. 49S), 

 and which is said to have measured 58 feet 11 inches 

 in girth, if not destroyed, may also exceed 2,0QO 

 years in age. " Such another monster," Evelyn 

 says, " is also to be seen in Sutton churchyard, near 

 Winchester." It would be well to obtain present 

 information as to these monster yews; but one 

 grand old yew, at Crowhurst, in Surrey, I have 

 myself seen and measured, and its girth at a yard 

 from the ground exceeded 30 feet. A hollow yew- 

 tree (in the churchyard of Broughton Ilackett, 

 Worcestershire, not more than 2-i feet in girth, was 

 judged by Dr. Lindley to be a thousand years old. 

 I this summer measured a grand old hollow yew- 

 tree in Marcle churchyard, Herefordshire, which 

 measured 28 feet 7 inches in girth at four feet from 

 the ground, and is vigorous and massive enough to 

 last for many centuries to come. An ancient 

 spreading yew at Llancant, Monmouthshire, is 33 

 feet in girth, and numerous yews in Wales may be 

 found of similar dimensions. Yews, from their slow 

 growth and mode of conservation, no doubt are most 

 enduring trees, and will maintain existence longer 

 than the oak. 

 As to oaks, the celebrated Cowthorpe Oak, near 



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