The Life of a Great Sportsman 



professional foresters, who would finally help them to deter- 

 mine upon a scheme of woodcraft, the realization of which has 

 since become the pride and glory, not only of Squire Pelham's 

 direct descendants, but of the whole folk of North Lincolnshire. 

 Surely each individual tree bears silent witness that the man 

 who gave so much thought, time, and money to the beautify- 

 ing of his estate, and his county, is worthy of praise and 

 perhaps some emulation in present days. 



An inscription, upon one of the well-known landmarks of 

 North Lincolnshire, Pelham's Pillar, where the woods end, and 

 which is also their furthest point from Brocklesby Hall, tells 

 the story of the undertaking, and from its height, will repay 

 the sightseer the trouble of climbing so many steps, not only 

 to see these miles of trees and to note the grace of their 

 waving lines, but to be rewarded with a bird's-eye view, which, 

 on a clear day, gives a radius of some forty miles of the 

 surrounding country. The inscription on Pelham's Pillar 

 runs thus : " This Pillar was erected to commemorate the 

 planting of these Woods by Charles Anderson Pelham, 

 Lord Yarborough, who commenced planting in 1787, and 

 between that year and 1823, planted on his property, 12,552,700 

 trees. The Foundation of this Pillar was laid in the year 

 1840 by his son, and the building finished by his Grandson 

 in 1849." 



It seems wonderful, looking at these grand century-old 

 trees, that they, as well as the sturdy oak, or its graceful neigh- 

 bour, the silver birch, were once such tender saplings, that the 

 smallest child was forbidden on pains and penalties to play 

 amidst their tempting recesses ; and that they were then called 

 " The Plantations," which only merged into the more dignified 

 name of " The Woods " by very slow degrees. 



When Mrs. Maunsell, our grandmother, from whom came 



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