46 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
The ‘Cressage Oak,” or “Christ's Oak,” under which it is 
said the early Christian missionaries, and possibly St Chad him- 
self, preached to the heathen before churches had been built, is 
the sole remaining tree of those vast forests which gave Shrews- 
bury its Saxon name of Schobbesburgh. It stands in an arable 
field on the banks of the Severn, half a mile from Cressage in 
Shropshire. It has a circumference of about 30 feet at 5 feet up, 
although only about one-half of the shell of the hollow trunk now 
remains, but it has still fifteen living branches, each 15 feet or 
16 feet in length. 
The “ Beggar’s Oak” grows in Lord Bagot’s park, m North 
Staffordshire, and is said to be one of the most picturesque trees 
in England. The head is round and full of foliage, drooping 
almost to the height of a stag, and offerimg a welcome shelter 
either in the heat of a summer day or during a storm. The 
circumference above the swell of the spurs is 27 feet 3 inches, and 
at 5 feet the girth is 23 feet 2 inches ; the branches extend from 
the trunk 50 feet in every direction, and the height is 60 feet. 
The ‘Squitch Oak” is also in Lord Bagot’s park, has a cireum- 
ference of 23 feet 2 inches at 5 feet from the ground. 
The ‘‘ King Tree” is another noted tree in Lord Bagot’s park. 
It was considered when sound to be the most valuable oak in the 
park, which is celebrated for its numerous splendid oak trees, and 
was valued in 1812 at £293. It has a circuinference at 5 feet up 
of 20 feet, and runs up without a limb to 30 feet, with a sheer 
height of 70 feet. 
The “ Venison Tree” is supposed to be the oldest tree in Bagot’s 
Park, and in existing records is shown to have been a tree of note 
upwards of six hundred years ago. 
The ‘White Tree,” in the same park, so called from its varie- 
gated leaves, which are blotched with white, has a very remark- 
able appearance in contrast with the dark green foliage of its 
neighbours. 
The “ Swilcar Lawn Oak” grows in Needwood Forest, Stafford- 
shire, and towers above all others. It has been poetically named 
the forest’s “chief mourner.” It has a circumference of 27 feet 
at 5 feet up. 
The “Oaks of Caulke Abbey,” Derbyshire. No. 1 girths 25 
feet 3 inches above the swell of the roots, and is 75 feet high. 
No. 2 is a fine tree, girthing 18 feet at 1 foot up, and is 60 feet 
high. No.3 girths 20 feet at 1 foot up, and has scarcely any 
