THE PLESTOR LARGE OAKS. 5 



the amazing tempest in 1703 overturned it at once, to the 

 infinite regret of the inhabitants, and the vicar, who bestowed 

 several pounds in setting it in its place again ; but all his care 

 could not avail ; the tree sprouted for a time, then withered 

 and died. * This oak I mention, to shew to what a bulk 

 planted oaks also may arrive ; and planted this tree must 

 certainly have been, as appears from what is known concerning 

 the antiquities of the village.-f- 



On the Blackmoor estate there is a small wood, called Losel's, 

 of a few acres, that was lately furnished with a set of oaks of a 

 peculiar growth and great value : they were tall and taper like 

 firs, but, standing near together, had very small heads only 



* It is very probable that this great oak was planted, in the year 1271, 

 by the prior mentioned in the preceding note ; so that it must have been 

 four hundred and thirty-two years old when blown down. ED. 



f The Shire Oak, so named from its peculiar local situation, standing 

 on a spot where the counties of Derby, Nottingham, and York join, 

 is one of the largest in the kingdom. The area which it covers is 

 seven hundred and seven square yards. In February, 1828, an ash 

 tree was felled in Blackburn Hollows, near Shires Green, Yorkshire, 

 containing seven hundred and fifty feet of solid timber : it was ten feet 

 six inches across the stool. An oak was also felled in Shining Cliff, neai 

 Crich, Derbyshire, containing nine hundred and sixty-five feet, and was 

 thirteen feet four inches across the stool. One of the most gigantic and 

 venerable trees of this species is the celebrated Cowthorpe Oak, which 

 stands on the extremity of the village of that name, near Wetherby, county 

 of York. The late Dr Hunter, while describing an oak of extraordinary 

 size, which decorates Sheffield Park, notices this majestic production of 

 nature, in his edition of Evelyn's Sylva, in the following terms : 

 " Neither this, nor any of the oaks mentioned by Mr Evelyn, bears any 

 proportion to one now growing at Cowthorpe. The dimensions are 

 almost incredible. Within three feet of the ground it measures sixteen 

 yards, and close to the ground twenty-six yards. Its height, in its present 

 ruinous state, (1776,) is almost eighty-five feet, and its principal limb 

 extends sixteen yards from the bole. Throughout the whole tree 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." Book iii. p. 500. 



The description here given answers as nearly as possible to the present 

 condition of the tree, as may be seen by comparing it with the accom- 

 panying cut. The common oak is the quercus robur of botanists. 



The girth of our largest forest trees sinks into comparative insignifi- 

 cance, when contrasted with that of some which are to be met with in 

 the equinoctial regions of America. Mr Exter, in 1827, measured a 

 cypress tree in the churchyard of Santa Maria de Tesla, two leagues and 

 a half west of Oaxaca, whose trunk was one hundred and twenty-seven 

 English feet in circumference, and one hundred and twenty feet in height. 

 It appeared in the prime of its growth, and had not a single dead branch. 



_ED. 





