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REMINISCENCES OF OLD ALLESTREE. 173 
stands on its site. We believe the old mulberry tree, of which we 
give a sketch, is all that is left to tell the tale, and, as may be seen, 
it is on the last verge of decay. There are not far from it a few 
old stones in the wall of the enclosure that may once have formed 
part of the walls of the house, and two rudely sculptured stones 
(that might have a better place) may have 
been part of the ornamentation of it. 
Rev. J. C. Cox thinks they came from the 
church at some previous restoration of that 
fabric ; there appear grounds for either 
hypotheses, but both may be wrong. We 
have thought it advisable to present a 
sketch of these stones in case anyone 
should be able to furnish any further 
particulars of this old home of the 
Adlardestreus. There are a few fine old 
) elm trees, ancestral looking, standing in 
the croft near the mulberry stump. An old tree, or a few flowers 
are often the sole mementoes of departed greatness; we re- 
call the beautiful story of 
Findern’s Flowers related to 
us years ago by our late 
y. friend, the author of the 
Bee es History of Repton.” 
There are a few other old trees at Allestree. That most worthy 
of note is the yew tree in the churchyard ;* it must be of very 
great age, and though much battered by time and storms, is still a 
beautiful and venerable thing, green and healthy, and its branches 
far spreading, sheltering lovingly the sleepers beneath its shade. 
The bole is a perfect study for colour and strength, though it is 
quite hollow. Long years ago little children used to play in the 
hollow of its stem; but somehow the hole appears to have par- 
tially closed, because it was not the large hole some yard or so 
from the ground by which they entered, but by a hole on the 
ground level. That hole is now too small to admit a child of five 
abies 
Re2 ee pecs 
* Tt measures at the height of 2 ft. 7 in. from the soil, 13 ft. 6 in. in girth. 
