ON TIIK OLIJ AND IlEMAKKABLE ASll TKKKS IN SCOTLAND. 139 



to show what once they were, and to assist, by their survival, in 



recordiii-;- and fi.\in,y- what sk'nder nicinory still lin.^os re.^ardinf^ 

 many ohl reminiscences linked with their history, although dying 

 out in practice at the present day. 



A very handsome ash, which also grows in Perthshire, — that 

 "land of trees" par excellence, — is tlie Kedgorton ash, — to be 

 seen on tlie farm of Pitmurtlily. At IJonskeid we have also 

 h)und a good example. It girtlitid 20 feet at :> feet from the ground 

 in 1876, and is now 20 feet 2 inches. It has been a good deal 

 disfigured by the loss of a large branch, during recent years, Ijut 

 is still vigorous and forming wood. On the South Inch of Perth 

 there is a tine ash tree, growing next to a very tine Scotch elm. 

 This ash measures in circumference 14 feet 5 inclies at 5 feet 

 from the ground, and is quite vigorous. An old ash, of historical 

 celebrity, still stands in a waning state in the soutli-west corner 

 of the churcliyard of the parish of Moulin, near Pitlochry village. 

 In olden times culprits were chained to this tree, while they 

 were awaiting their doom (generally /7i«/) at the hands of the 

 Council of Lairds, who were the administrators of justice (?) in 

 the Highlands in media3val times. These were the same execu- 

 tioners of justice who used the ash tree at the ferry of Logie- 

 rait as their giljbet for that district. What their preference for 

 {(sli was, both prior to and for the execution of their victims, 

 does not appear, but probably there existed in these superstitious 

 times, some association of doleful nature with this tree. A 

 renuirkable collection or group of old ash trees may be seen at 

 the churchyard of Oldhamstocks, in East Lothian, which is 

 surromided on each side by them in a single row. They seem 

 very old, and gaps, where two have evidently perished, have been 

 re-filled by two elms. The survivors number ten, and we have 

 given the dimensions of some of the best in tlie tal)ulated list 

 appended. They are very tall and weatlier-beaten, being exposed 

 very much to the lilast. The date on a portion of the church is 

 1581, about which time they were proliably planted. Another 

 singular group of three ash trees stands in a field immediately to 

 the east of Whittinghame churchyard, also in East Lothian. The 

 largest given in our a])pendix is a very handsome tree measuring 

 in circumference 1-4 feet 5 inches at 1 foot, and 11 feet 3 niches 

 at 6 feet from the ground, and has a large wide-spreading head 

 95 feet in height. It divides into two huge limbs at 12 feet high. 

 Tlie second of the group is 12 feet 6 inches at 2 feet, and 8 feet 

 9 inches at 6 feet, with a bole 20 feet in length, and is 85 feet 

 high. The third is smaller. There are in the same field other 

 eight ash trees, a lime, horse chestnut, and beecli, all certainly 

 very old trees. From their ])osition, and also from the fact of there 

 still existing a quaint old well about the centre of the field, and 

 near the group referred to, there probably at one time had been 



