Notes — Portbury 243 



August 1836 had a small branch from the base 

 of a bough, which had shot downwards into the 

 decayed top of the trunk ; and which on being 

 pulled up proved to be a perfect root upwards of 

 3 feet in length.' He considers this to be an 

 explanation of the Mamhilad tree having one trunk 

 within another, and thinks that in this way a new 

 tree may succeed the old one. He is no doubt 

 right in this supposition, but the condition is too 

 rare to be of much importance as regards rejuven- 

 escence, as there are only six instances of its 

 occurrence within my knowledge, viz., this of 

 Portbury, Dinder, Ankerwyke, Llanthewy Bach, 

 Mamhilad, and Kyre. 



The second Portbury tree is one of the most 

 remarkable I have seen, as it has a straio-ht trunk 

 of about 20 feet hioh measurino- at the orround 



17 feet 3 inches, at 3 feet, 15 feet 10 inches, and 

 at 6 feet, 14 feet in girth. 



I cannot quite follow Dr. Christison's measure- 

 ments of these trees, which he says are ' the one 

 15 feet and the other 17 feet in girth at 5 feet up.' 

 It is possible he may have, as I did in the first 

 instance, obtained them from a third person. 

 These measurements, which I found very in- 

 correct, gave the girth of the first tree as 19 feet 

 at 7 feet from the ground, and the second as being 



1 8 feet in girth, which it is not. 



In Puckington Churchyard, near Ilminster, Somer- 



