112 



The change is great indeed and startling, but the explanation of it is to 

 be found in a cause no less complimentary to the district than the noblest 

 hedgerow of forest timber that could decorate the landscape, namely, the 

 admirable quality of the soil itself, whose only fault is so responsive a relation 

 to the plough as scarcely to admit of application to woodland, or even to pasture, 

 except for ornament or waste. But, liappily, here and there some vestiges 

 remain of the ancient home scenery not cut down to the standard of modern 

 requirements. As the woods of Pengethley and Harewood, which once formed 

 adjoining parks,* rise upon the view, the old pastoral and sylvan character 

 is still brought to mind; and if the rich quality of "the Ry elands", as this part 

 of Archenfield was once called, satisfies the eye of the agriculturist in its fertile 

 adaptation to tillage, the lover of woodland scenery will find ample cause of 

 pleasure in the groups of noble forest and ornamental trees that still flourish 

 here, many of them very beautiful and jucturesque, and some of them presenting 

 a very unusual size in girth and extent of folinge. (See note.) 



On entering the Lodge at Harewood from the turnpike road, through the 

 shade of the beeches and chesnuts, the age and chaiacter of the trees in the park 

 cannot fail to strike every one ; and in the drive through the undulating 

 grounds to the house there is, perhaps, as much of picturesque beauty, and as 

 much variety of form and foliage, as can be found anywhere in the county in 

 the same space of ground. 



The first tree to be inquired for is the well-known oak, which stands in 

 the front rank of Herefordshire trees of note, the "Harewood Oak" par 

 excellence. Its local name is "the Garden Oak, " from its situation in a hollow 

 slope of ground near the garden. This fine old tree is spoken of as "the Great 

 Oak" in some letters upwards of 240 years old in the possession of the family. 

 It is now considerably past its prime, and shows extensive signs of decay. 

 The tree is so well proportioned that the eye scarcely forms an idea of the 

 magnitude of its bulk in stem and branch until you are close upon it. It mea- 

 sures, at 5 feet from the ground, exactly 23 feet 9 inches in girth, extending to 

 36 feet just below the spring of its branches. The tree was very much injured 

 by an intentional kindness. The late Sir Hungerford Hoskyns, Bart., had a 

 manure heap placed near the stem some 35 years ago, with the view cf benefitting 

 it. Perchance Sii- Hungerford saw the evil commencing and wished to arrest it, 

 but be this as it may, every one could see but too plainly the first decayed branch 

 which appeared on the south side the very next summer ; and from that time the 

 progress of decay has been rapid, and now many other branches are dead. The 

 photograph opposite gives a very fair representation of it. 



" " The Parks s^f England," by J. Evelyn Shirley. 



[Note.— The ancient title of this district— "the Ryelands "— gave its name to a 

 dplicate and pure breed of sheep, in many points resembling the Spanish Merinos, and 

 from which it is possible they may be descended.] 



