OAKS IX SCOTLAND. 205 



tlie oak, on a bright day in May 1835, and that then the old 

 tree stump had sent forth a young shoot. Since then the copse 

 has been rampant, and quite obliterated the old tree. The knoll 

 is still called ' Wallace's Wood ; ' a small plantation it is, and a 

 field adjoining it, ' Wallace's Bank,' and another field near by is 

 ' Wallace's Kail-yard.' There is, however, aD innocent imposter, 

 which the people about insist on calling Wallace's oak. It 

 stands within the policies of Carbrook, close to Torwood, and is 

 evidently some two or three hundred years old. But though a 

 respectable tree, it is far too young to have been connected with 

 Wallace." Near the latter tree is an old thorn, which is called 

 " Caroill's Thorn," from the circumstance that that renowned 

 Covenanter is said to have stood under its branchins^ head, 

 when he excommunicated Charles II. 



About a mile south-east, close to Glenbervie House, stands 

 a small but evidently very old oak tree, about 7 to 8 feet in 

 girth, called the "Jowg Tree/' from the fact that a pair of 

 "jowgs" were in olden times fastened to it for the temporary 

 exposure of delinquents. There is a tree bearing a similar name 

 at Ochtertyre in Perthshire, and the appellation is not uncom- 

 mon in other places. 



Another famous " Wallace Oak " i^^rew near the village of 

 Elderslie, Eenfrewshire. In 1825 the trunk of this oak measured 

 21 feet in circumference at the base, and 13 feet 2 inches at 

 5 feet from the ground. It was then 67 feet high, and the 

 branches covered altogether an area of 495 square yards. In 

 1854 this sylvan giant and land-mark of the past had become 

 the merest wreck of what it was even a few years previously. 

 Time and the storms of centuries had done their work, but worse 

 than all, the relic hunters had been unceasingly nibbHng at this 

 once majestic trunk. Little more than a blackened torso then, 

 this oak remained, with only a few straggling shoots showing 

 any symptoms of vitality. The dreadful storm of February 

 1856, completed the destruction, for by it this grim old sylvan 

 veteran, with thousands of his less remarkable compeers, was 

 levelled with the dust. Hundreds of relic hunters in the 

 district, hearing of Wallace's overthrow, hurried to the spot, and 

 soon accomplished with bowie knife and gully a thorough dissec- 

 tion of the prostrate hero. jNfr Spiers of Elderslie, however, 

 hastened to the rescue, and had the mangled and nuitilated 

 remains of the trunk conveyed and safely lodged in his residence 

 at Jienfrew, where tliey have since found a fitting resting-place. 

 Several articles of furniture have since been converted out of 

 portions of this tree by the proprietor of Elderslie and Huuston, 

 and wlien a few years ago the foundation stone of Houston 

 parish cliurcli was laid, the mallet used on the occasion was 

 made from a piece of Wallace's Oak. Two vigorous and tluiving 



