THE LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF HAMPSHIRE. 367 



Selborne, with a girtli of 25 feet 2 inches ; one in Lockerley 

 churchyard girths 23 feet 4 inches, and others. One in Twyford 

 churchyard is shaped like a gigantic mushroom, and has a sheer 

 height of 30 feet, with a girth of 12 feet 5 inches. Another near 

 the Forest of Bere is so solid in its branches, from being trimmed 

 time out of mind, that a cricket ball fails to penetrate it, although 

 thrown with considerable force. Many of the yew avenues in 

 the county are of great interest, such as the one at Queenwood, 

 reputed to have been planted by Queen Elizabeth ; at any rate, 

 there is one called after her on the same estate, near the manor- 

 house of East Tytherley, where there is one running due east and 

 west. It has a width of 27 feet, the trees standing 15 feet apart 

 in the rows. The largest has a circumference of 6 feet. The 

 boughs meet and intertwine, forming a Tudor arch to an aisle 

 300 yards long, the effect of which is difficult to describe, as it 

 can neither be called " magnificent " nor " sublime," but it is 

 worthy of the study of every thoughtful mind. In the Candover 

 Valley, at the village of Chilton Candover, is one which is thus 

 described by a writer in a local paper : — " The longest lived of 

 British trees, the yew (which was certainly reverenced by the 

 Druids) flourishes in this valley, and attains to a great size. A 

 long avenue of yews of great age stretches from the village of 

 Chilton Candover (adjoining Preston Candover) up the sides of 

 the Downs towards the east for nearly a mile. These trees are 

 certainly one thousand, and may, some of them, be nearer two 

 thousand years old, or the present trees may have replaced others, 

 for yews may often be seen, hollow and decayed, having a vigorous 

 and younger stem growing inside the hollow tree. In any case, 

 it is a fact that this great avenue does exist, and that a wide gr-ass 

 road runs along it leading on to the downs, but no further now, 

 althovigh in former times it doubtless led to an important height, 

 still known by the Celtic name of ' Bangor ' Copse, in which, as 

 we should expect, more Druid sandstones are lying about." 



Jonathan Oldbuck, in Scott's " Antiquary," when dilating on 

 his Roman antiquities, was interrupted by Edie Ochiltree saying, 

 " Prtetorian here. Praetorian there, I mind the biggin' o' it." I 

 cannot pretend to act the part of Edie, but the true history is — 

 a mansion-house was erected here sometime in the middle of the 

 16th century as the seat of the Worsley family, which Bishop 

 Gibson describes as a " noted seat." It stood near the church, 

 and its foundations and terraced gardens may still be traced. It 



