A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



As to the numerous old-established private 

 parks of Buckinghamshire, apart from royal 

 forests, abounding in fine timber and well stocked 

 with deer, much information has already been 

 recorded of Ashridge Park (chiefly in Hertford- 

 shire), of Fawley Court Park (partly in Oxford- 

 shire), as well as of the historic parks of Biddlesden, 

 Bulstrode, Claydon, Ditton, Doddershall, Hart- 

 well, Langley, Stoke, Stowe, Thornton, Turville, 

 Whaddon, and West Wycombe. 103 



Langley Park, of 383 acres, is well timbered 

 with oak ; to the north of the park is a large 

 tract of woodland, about l miles long by three- 

 quarters of a mile broad, appropriately termed the 

 Black Park, which is covered with Scotch firs ; 

 it was originally planted about the middle of the 

 seventeenth century, but the greater part of it is 

 self-sown. 



There are several parks in the county which 

 are not deer-stocked, but are quite noteworthy for 

 their fine timber : three of the best examples are 

 Butler's Court, Beaconsfield, of 400 acres ; Gay- 

 hurst Park of 250 acres ; and Hughenden Manor 

 House of 140 acres. 



The county affords instances of an exceptional 

 number of fine avenues of diversified interest. 

 To gain the noble park of Stowe from Bucking- 

 ham, an avenue of trees two miles in length has 

 to be traversed. Thornton Hall, with a park of 

 181 acres, has a good avenue of elms. At 

 Taplow Court there is a long avenue of well- 

 grown cedars of Lebanon. Wavendon House 

 has a fine elm avenue, half-a-mile in length ; 

 whilst Wavendon Tower has an avenue of limes 

 and horse-chestnuts. At Yewdon Manor, 

 Hambleden, there is an ancient avenue of yews. 

 A singularly fine yew hedge is also worth noting 

 at Remnantz, Great Marlow. The somewhat 

 wild avenue of beech and Spanish chestnuts at 

 Great Hampden is of historic interest. 



Some of the finest beech trees of the county 

 are in the grounds of Hampden House ; and 

 excellent examples will also be found in the 

 beautifully diversified grounds near Chesham. At 

 Burnham Beeches, in the south of the county a 

 beautiful remnant of English woodland scenery, 

 purchased by the corporation of the City of 

 London, under the provisions of the Open Spaces 

 Act of 1878 there are numbers of great 

 mutilated, but picturesque beeches, pollarded in 

 early days. 



la> P.C.H. Bucks, i, 172-5. 



The ash is widely distributed throughout the 

 county, but chiefly in the shape of hedgerow 

 timber. 



The woods of the north of the county are 

 chiefly oak with an undergrowth in which the 

 sloe largely predominates, and the crab-apple is 

 not infrequent. There are large plantations of 

 pine and larch at Brickhill. Throughout the 

 Thames Valley wych elm as well as common elm 

 is numerous, and frequently attains to a great 

 size. In the south of the county the black 

 poplar is fairly common. On the chalk, the yew, 

 juniper and holly are frequent, though usually 

 in stunted forms. The box flourishes and is 

 probably indigenous on the northern chalk 

 escarpment, especially in the neighbourhood of 

 Ellesborough. The hornbeam is perhaps com- 

 moner in Buckinghamshire than in any other 

 county, particularly on the eastern border ; and 

 the maple sometimes grows to a fair size, especi- 

 ally about Moulsoe. 



The recent official agricultural returns testify 

 in a remarkable manner to the steady growth of 

 England's woodlands during the last quarter of 

 a century, owing to the greater attention that 

 has been given to the whole subject of arbori- 

 culture. During the ten years between 1895 

 and 1905 the total area of the woodlands of 

 England and Wales has increased by 52,483 acres. 

 Of this increase Buckinghamshire has had its 

 full share. The woodland area of this county 

 was 29,421 acres in 1888; 30,732 in 1891 ; 

 32,125 in 1895 ; and 34,548 in 1905. The 

 return of 1905 divides the woodlands into three 

 classes; (i) the coppice, under which head are 

 included all that springs up again from the old 

 stools after periodical felling ; (2) the plantations, 

 under which are reckoned all that has been 

 planted or replanted within the last fifteen years ; 

 and (3) other woods. The Buckinghamshire 

 total includes 4,586 acres of coppice and 1,322 

 acres of plantation. 



The recent considerable increase in the wood- 

 land of this county is doubtless due, as elsewhere, 

 to no small extent to what has been termed the 

 luxurious value of forest trees and coverts on the 

 larger estates ; that is to say, to the beauty of 

 woodland landscape and to planting as an assist- 

 ance in the maintenance of game. But, at the 

 same time, some portion of the Buckinghamshire 

 increase is doubtless due to the commercial value 

 of beechwood in general turnery, and more 

 especially in the manufacture of chairs. 



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