IV 



AMPTHILL PARK, BEDFORDSHIRE 



TH E Gardens at Ampthill are not extensive ; 

 the magnificent trees create one of their 

 chief beauties, and owing to the undulating nature 

 of the ground their fine grouping is displayed to 

 perfection. Among these trees are the celebrated 

 Oaks for which Ampthill is justly famous. These 

 trees are extremely venerable, some being over five 

 hundred years old, and one claiming to be the 

 largest Oak tree in England. 



In a survey taken by order of Parliament in 

 1653, these splendid trees were condemned "as 

 hollow and unfit " for the use of Cromwell's navy. 

 Many names are associated with Ampthill, but 

 perhaps the best remembered is that of the proud 

 daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella Katherine of 

 Arragon, Henry VIII. 's first Queen. Is it fanciful 

 to feel that the embittered Spanish princess has 

 bequeathed to the old place a pervading sensation 

 of gloom ? The memory of her sorrows, her fana- 



