NOTICES OF REMARKABLE TREES IN NORTHUMBERLAND, 39 



I do not wish to describe the trees out of this county, and 

 shall leave the county of Durham to some more able hands than 

 mine, to tell of the wonders of the King Oak at Gibside, of the 

 Magnolia* and other rare trees at Bradley ; but I shall, neverthe- 

 less, briefly allude to one which I have seen, and it is the famous 

 thorn at the Rectory of Houghton-le- Spring, which is said to 

 have been planted by Bernard Gilpin. This venerable tree is 

 now bound together by iron cramps ; at the ground it measures 

 1 1 ft. 3 in. ; at less than two feet from the ground it divides into 

 three separate limbs, the largest of which measures 6 ft. 5 in. in 

 circumference at the thickest part, the next, 5 ft. 1 in., and the 

 third is considerably smaller. 



Larch, Larix JEuropce. — There are two forms of this tree, 

 or it may be there are two kinds ; one grows high and straight, 

 and puts out no large limbs, the other exactly resembles a cedar. 

 Of the former sort a fine specimen grows in Hartburn Dene, 

 very near the silver firs ; the bowl is about 35 feet high, with- 

 out a branch; at the ground it measures 13 feet in girth, 

 and 8 ft. 9 in. one yard above. Another splendid tree of this 

 kind is in Whittle Dene, near Ovingham, and is about one 

 quarter of a mile above Whittle Mill. I have not measured it, 

 but it is said to be 10 feet in girth one yard above the ground. 

 The most remarkable specimen of the other kind is growing in 

 front of my house at Stamfordham. I regret to say it has begun 

 to go back, and has borne no cones for the last few years, 

 although it has done so since I went to reside there in 1847; and 

 I lament much that I did not gather them, and sow some of the 

 seed, to see whether similarly growing trees could be produced 

 from it. If this be not a distinct species, its leader must have 

 been destroyed by snow or some other cause, when it had grown 

 9 feet high, causing it to throw out such large lateral branches; 

 for, at 9 feet from the ground, there are four branches — that on 

 the south side being 4 feet in girth, that on the east 5 feet, on 



* This tree measures 3 ft. 1 in. at the base, and 2ft. 9 in. oneyanl high. An ash at the same 

 place, which is so near Northumberland that we can almost claim it, measures 19 ft. 8 in. 

 at the base, and 15 ft. 6 in. one yard higli. 



