308 



It now lies dead, a wreck upon the ground, shrivelled and dry. As it lies 



it measures 60 feet in length, and at about five feet from the base it has a girth 



of 26 ft. 8 in. It is hollow throughout, and the diameter of the hollow at the 



bottom is 12 ft. 6 in. The trunk divided at 25 ft. from the ground, and still at 



three feet beyond the division, the main stem measures 13 ft. in circumferenoe. 



Let us say with Sir Humphry Davy — 



" Now the huge trunk whose bare and forked arms 

 Pierced the mid sky lies prone, shall bud no more 

 Still let the massy ruin, like the bones 

 Of some majestic hero, be preserved 

 Unviolated and revered." 



In the hedgerow of the same field is a remarkably fine growing Oak — which 

 may be called the " Young Nonupton Oak "—which measures 17 ft. 9 in. in 

 circumference, but though so good a tree it will never reach the grandeur of the 

 old one. 



The Pulpit Oak of Upton.— On the neighbouring hill to that on which 

 the great oak of Nonupton grew is another remarkable tree, " The Pulpit Oak." 

 It is a hollow pollard tree, covered with excrescences, and open on one side. It 

 is partly ivy clad, and has an abundance of spray shooting from it. Its circum- 

 ference as near as could be taken was 18 ft. 6 in., and the height of the trunk 

 itself only 9 ft. high. Its history and traditions seem lost, nor does it appear 

 to be connected in any way with the "Pulpit Farm "in the valley half a mile 

 off. The name it bears, however, with its position, prove it to have been one of 

 those " Gospel Oaks " of which several examples still exist in different 

 counties. It is on the boundary line between the parishes of St. Michael, 

 belonging to Old Tenbury, and Little Hereford, and on that also of the two 

 counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. When the ancient custom of 

 walking the parish boundaries once a year was in vogue this tree was very pro- 

 bably one of the stations where passages from the Gospels were recited and prayers 

 made. 



" That every man might keep his own possessions 

 Our fathers used, in reverend processions, 

 (With zealous prayers, and with praiseful cheere), 

 To walk their parish limits once a year." 



A solemn character was thus given to such trees, and that earthly vows beneath 

 them were judged to be the more solemn, may be inferred from the plaintive 

 injunction Herrick makes one of his lovers utter in his "Hesperides":— 



Dearest, bury me 



Under that holy oke, or Gospel Tree ; 



Where, though thou see'st not, thou may'st think upon 



Me, when thou yeerly go'st Procession." 



But surely such a request could only have been properly asked of some gay 

 young member of that offico which has descended from remote antiquity— the 

 parish beadle. 



