24 RENFREWSHIRE EXCURSIONS. 



behind whose ample trunk beggars used to skulk, waiting the 

 coming of the late proprietor from the principal entrance, which 

 the position commanded, with the intention of waylaying him for 

 an "awmos" — hence the tree is called "The Beggar's Tree." In 

 August, 1892, this tree measured in girth at the narrowest part 

 1 2 feet 1 1 inches at 2 feet from the ground (aspect towards house), 

 swelling above this at 5 feet up to 14 feet 7 inches, where it forks into 

 three branches. Spread of branches, 86 feet. Opposite the man- 

 sion house, on the left bank of the Cart, is another fine wych-elm, 

 with a very picturesque appearance, which has now, unfortunately, 

 become knotted along all the larger branches, and which will no 

 doubt shortly decay. At 5 feet 8 inches this tree measures 12 feet 

 4 inches. At no great distance from an old pigeon house on the 

 same side of the Cart as the last, stand, at short intervals, four 

 noble beeches, one of which, north-west of pigeon house, has a 

 circumference of 13 feet 3 inches at 6 feet 2 inches, and carries 

 its principal stem to a great height. The gardens east of the 

 mansion house, with a southern exposure, contain two curiosities 

 worth mentioning. The first is a yew tree in the kitchen garden, 

 which is in perfect health, and measures 3 feet 6J inches at a foot 

 from the ground. This was a slip taken from the historic 

 Crookston Yew. As the latter was rooted out in 181 7 (the 

 remains are still in a loft in the offices at Pollok), and as Ramsay, 

 in his Views in Renfrewshire, published in 1839, described the 

 young Pollok tree as being then like the other descendant of the 

 historic tree (planted near the entrance to the Glasgow Botanic 

 Garden), which was raised from a slip taken in 1789, we may 

 assume that the Pollok yew is now approximately a century old. 

 The other curiosity in the gardens is the trunk of a huge oak dug 

 out of the Cart in this vicinity, which is set up and used as a 

 summer house. In connection with this relic of former sylvan 

 glory it is interesting to notice that Pollok has long been one of 

 the wooded parts of Renfrewshire. In one of the Maitland Club 

 publications appears an "Account of the Sheriffdom of Renfrew," 

 from the Sibbald MSS., written prior to 1653 an d probably after 

 1647. I n this account it is stated "the woods are Crookston, 

 Hawkwood, Pollok, Howstoun, and Barruchane, besides other 

 lesser woods." At the present time extensive planting is being 

 carried on in the policies. 



