OLD AND REMARKABLE TREES ON HOLWOOD ESTATE. 305 



Both this and the " Wilberforce Oak," already described, are 

 the variety known as Quercus Robur jy^d^mculata. 



That Mr Pitt was fond of trees and planting Holwood Park 

 plainly shows, for not only were the ramparts of the Roman Camp 

 planted by him, bnt likewise many of the shrubberies around the 

 mansion. With what ardour Pitt applied himself to planting will 

 be seen in a letter addressed from Downing Street to his mother, 

 dated November 13th, 1786, in which he says — "To-morrow I 

 hope to get to Holwood, where I am impatient to look at my 

 works. I must carry there, however, only my passion for planting, 

 and leave that of cutting entirely to Burton." It is said that 

 when night drew on the work of planting was frequently not 

 interrupted, but completed by lantern light. 



Mr Wilberforce, who was exceedingly fond of visiting his friend 

 at Holwood, says in his Diary — " Walked about after breakfast 

 with Pitt and Grenville. We sallied forth, armed with bill- 

 hooks, cutting new walks from one large tree to another through 

 the thickets of Holwood copses." 



The " Bee Oak " is another curiously contorted tree, which stands 

 on an eminence commanding a beautiful view of the vale of Keston. 

 A hive of bees have for many years taken up their abode in its 

 partially hollow stem. 



The above are descriptions and measurements of a few of the 

 many fine old oaks at Holwood, but particularly such as are remark- 

 able for their great age and size. In all cases the girths have been 

 taken so as to avoid recording exaggerated dimensions. Many of 

 the trunks at 1 foot and 5 feet, owing to buttresses or excrescences, 

 are nearly double of the size at 3 feet. The cubic contents cannot 

 be given with any approach to accuracy, as in most instances the 

 trunks are hollow, and terminate at from 8 feet to 10 feet from the 

 ground, after which they ramify into wide-spreading branchy heads. 

 As to the age of these trees, it would be hazardous to advance an 

 opinion ; but that they are remnants of the primeval forests with 

 which Kent at one time abounded is beyond dispute. Not, how- 

 ever, until the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth 

 centuries, or previous to the introduction of hops into England, did 

 the vast Kentish forests suflTer from the ruthless hand of the wood- 

 man ; but after that date it was found that the cultivation of 

 coppice for hop poles was far more remunerative than even the best 

 quality of oak wood, and so these natural forests were either clean 



