NOTICES OF REMARKABLE TREES IN NORTHUMBERLAND. 41 



30 years ago ; it was lying in a peat bog, a few feet below the 

 surface. A large portion of the tree was got out ; it contained 5G4 

 feet of wood, but a great deal is still buried in the bog. Below 

 the peat was a quicksand clay of great depth. This bog oak 

 had certainly been one of the glories of this county in former 

 times. But there are other oak trees which have disappeared 

 within the memory of man, which may be worthy of notice. In 

 Raines' Memoirs of Hodgson, the following passage occurs in 

 a letter, dated Haltwhistle, 23rd Sep., 1810:— "From this 

 charming spot (Featherstonhaugh Castle) I went by the river's 

 edge to Lambley, where once there was a nunnery, now swept 

 away. But my ride was amply repaid by a sight of a fine, dark, 

 broad oak — and such an oak for size, lightness of foliage, and 

 picturesque situation as there is not another in the world. It 

 has ten trunks, each more than I can fathom, and at least 

 80 feet high, all springing from one main stock." This tree is 

 now gone, and used to be called the "bell tree." I shall now 

 describe a few of the existing trees of this county. Opposite 

 to Bywell Hall, on the south side of the Tyne, and in the north 

 hedge of the turnpike road, is a very good specimen. The bowl 

 is about 15 feet high before it branches, in girth it measures 17 

 feet on the ground, and 12 ft. 10 in. one yard high. Behind 

 the old garden wall at Netherwitton is a very remarkable stump 

 of an oak, braced together with iron cramps ; it is now merely a 

 shell. It is about 20 feet high, and at a yard from the ground 

 measures 22 ft. 6 in. 



It now only remains for me to describe the King and 

 Queen Oaks of Netherwitton. The King is indeed a most im- 

 posing and stately monarch; his bowl is certainly 40 feet high. 

 On the east and north sides there are no branches below those 

 which form the head of the tree; the south and west sides have 

 only two branches before the head shoots out. The tree stands 

 in a wood, on the north side of the garden, on a road side which 

 goes between the Longhorsley and Nunnykirk road. Its position 

 is rather unfortunate, as it is growing on the edge of a hill side, 

 so that a considerable portion of the bowl rests against the bank 



VOL. IV. PT. I. F 



