464 TKAXSACTIOA'S AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE [Sess. i.vii. 



that, apparently because buttresses were not required in a 

 pollard, they were not produced. This tree stands con- 

 spicuously alone in a gently sloping field, and no other 

 oak in the Forest of Dean at all approaches it in size. 



CowTiioKPE, Wetheeby, YORKSHIRE. — If in addition to 

 girth other points are considered, the oak at this place 

 may lay a strong claim to the sovereignty, a claim, indeed, 

 which was admitted by Mr. Marsham (Op. cit. 1780), who 

 states that " the largest oak in England is one near 

 Wetherby," and by Hunter in his edition (1776) of 

 Evelyn's Sylva. Eeferring to an oak in Sheffield Park, he 

 says, " Xeither this nor any of the oaks mentioned by Mr. 

 Evelyn bear any proportion to one now growing at Cow- 

 thorpe. The dimensions are almost incredible." He then 

 gives them, as shown in my table, concluding his 

 description thus : " The foliage is extremely thin, so that 

 the anatomy of the ancient branches may be distinctly 

 seen in the height of summer. When compared to this, 

 all other trees are but children of the forest." 



Strutt (1822) says that Hunter's description " so nearly 

 answers to the present state that the tree does not appear 

 to have sullered material deprivation since." Yet his 

 drawing, compared with Hunter's, shows an evident 

 diminution in height and l)nuiches. A photograph of 

 1859, sent me by the Eev. J. J. D. Dent, Hunsingore, 

 shows perhaps a further diminution in height, but so great 

 a revival of the foliage that it no longer deserved the 

 reproach of "showing the anatomy of the ancient branches"; 

 and this improvement continued in 1887, when I saw the 

 tree. The stem, the condition of which is not described 

 Ijy the earlier observers, I found to be a hollow shell, to 

 which access is gained by a considerable gap, which, how- 

 ever, does not interfere with the accuracy of measurement. 

 My notes unfortunately were lost, but Mr. Dent has kindly 

 supplied the loss by careful measurements taken in 1889. 



