313 



architecture of the Church moreover corresponds with the period. Uvedale 

 Tomkyns died in 1692 at the age of 43. From the Tomkyns' family Monnington 

 Court passed into the possession of the Capels ; thence to the "Whitmores, by 

 the marriage of John "Whitmore with Mary Capel (ob. 1720); and by the 

 Whitmores the estate was sold to Sir George Cornewall, the grandfather of the 

 present Baronet. 



Two centuries earlier, tradition has it, that Owen Glendower and his two 

 daughters lived in hiding at Monnington Court. He is said to have died there 

 (1416), and being a wizard, to have been buried under the walls of the original 

 church, half in and half out — his head and shoulders inside, and his body and 

 legs outside. This story must be left and the road to Moccas taken over the 

 new bridge built by the late Sir Velters Cornewall, Bart, in 1868. 



Now for a series of hard facts, which those who are not tree lovers had 

 better skim over. Tape in hand let us set out from the Court. Yes ! that 

 Evergreen Oak to the right is a fine tree. At 1 foot from the ground it measures 

 lift. 6in., and then separates into two pretty equal divisions 6ft. 6in. and 

 6ft. lOin. at oft. from the ground : the left hand tree with a fine single bole 

 measures 8ft. lOin. There are many others down the drive of smaller size, all 

 of them showing the effects of the severe winter. There are some trees of Q. ilex 

 too planted round the old Norman church with its nave, and chancel, and cir- 

 cular apse now in course of restoration ; but interesting as this church is, it 

 must be p issed by, and so too must the many fine growing Oaks in the Lesser 

 Park, which measure say from 12 to 14 feet in ciicumference. Many of them 

 are very fine single or clustered, and growing yearly into trees of mark. 



The Young Avenue of Oaks planted by Sir Gilbert Lewi3 in the year 



1841 deserves a little attention. The young trees are growing freely and well. 



Half-a-dozen of the best of them on the North side gave these measurements : 



3ft. 6in.; 3ft. llin.; 4ft. 3in.; 4ft. 4in.; 3ft. 8in.; and 3ft. 7in.; and a similar 



number on the South side, these: 4ft.; 3ft. 7in. ; 3ft. 5in.; 3ft. 6in.; 3ft. 6in.; 



and 3ft. lin. As the Third Earl of Carlisle wrote on a pillar near some treed he 



planted at Castle Howard, in 1731 : 



" If to perfection these plantations rise, 

 If they agteeably rny heirs surprise, 

 This f.iituful record will their age declare, 

 As long as time these characters shall span.' 



A charming bit of wilderness succeeds the Avenue, where massive Oaks — a dead 

 one here and there — are surrounded by a loosely scattered undergrowth of thora 

 trees, sloes, eglantine, and briars. Pass through it and the grand trees of the Park 

 itself come into view — that is to say, they will do so as soon as the common- 

 place hedgerow timber, and the hedges themselves which border the road here aro 

 removed, and it was pleasant to hear that their' fate was sealed. 



Once in the Park and he who would note the size of remarkable tree* 

 must set to work in earnest. The two scraggy Oaks to the right, each a picture 

 in itself, measure loft 9in. and 17ft. lin, ; thee, taking the North aide of the pool, 



