Buxus 



1729 



belt (about 10 yards in width) of box trees, which average 20 ft. in height, some 

 being 2 feet in girth. (A. H.) 



Remarkable Trees 



Though a native of countries much hotter than Britain, and known to most 

 people only as a bush, box is capable of attaining large dimensions in England, 

 and may under favourable circumstances become a small tree. The largest I have 

 seen in this country are in the Hermitage Road in Hitchin, where there is a row 

 of about forty trees, many of which attain 25 to 30 feet in height, and 2 to 2^ ft. in 

 girth, the largest being 35 feet by 2 ft. 10 in. Mr. Seebohm informed me that this 

 line of trees formerly grew on private property ^ which he bought, and opened a 

 new road on which they now stand between an old wall and iron railings which 

 protect them. 



At Beckford Hall, Gloucestershire, there is a walk 3 yards wide on each side of 

 which a line of box trees grow which are from 30 to 31 feet high and 20 to 30 

 inches in girth. A monastery once stood here, and the trees are supposed to be 

 about 800 years old, which is probably twice or three times their real age. 



At Box well Court,^ Gloucestershire, the seat of the Rev. O. Huntley, a wood 

 of box trees exists which must be of very great age. Mr. Huntley showed me in 

 the. will of his ancestor, Henry Huntley, dated 1556, the following passage : "I will 

 that it shall be lawful for the said Anne my wife, to cut and fell all my boxe, reserving 

 the young store, at any time or times at her pleasure within the space of the said 

 five years." It is thus clear that 350 years ago this wood was looked on as a valuable 

 possession ; and that the trees were coppiced, as they are now. It is possible that 

 they were planted by some monk or returned Crusader, and are not, as some have 

 supposed, wild. This wood lies on a steep slope just below the level plateau of the 

 Cotswolds at an elevation of 500 to 600 feet and extends for about 800 yards along 

 the slope which faces south. They grow very thickly and form a dense shade under 

 which nothing grows, and show every sign of having been regularly cut over and 

 reproduced from the stool ; in one place fresh plants have been planted in rows, 

 5 feet apart, which now form tall slender poles clean to 10 or 15 feet high, many ot 

 which have died from overcrowding. In other parts the shoots average 20 to 25 

 ft. high, and though the average girth is not above 6 to 8 in. yet there are a few 

 stems of 2 ft. and over, the thickest that I measured being 2 ft. 10 in. and 3 ft. 4 in. in 

 girth. Mr. Huntley tells me that, though an uncle of his is reputed to have sold a 



1 W. WiUhere, M.P., who owned this property, states in Loudon, Gard. Mag. xv. 236 (1839), that these box trees 

 were, in 1839, sixty in number, forming a hedge about 180 ft. long. They then averaged 36 ft. in height, and 3 ft. 3J in. 

 in girth at 2 ft. from the ground ; and were very old, thin, and ragged. They were supposed to have been planted as a 

 border, and allowed to grow up through neglect ; but their exact history was unknown. Cf. J. E. Little, mjourn. Hitchin 

 Nat. Hist. Club, May 1 891, who adds that in the park at Hexton, near Hitchin, box is very luxuriant, forming tall hedges 

 along the drives. 



2 Rudge, History of the County of Gloucester (1803), states: " Boxwell, anciently Boxewelle. This name is derived 

 from a box wood of about 16 acres, within a warren of 40 acres, from which arises a considerable spring. This is the most 

 considerable wood of the kind in England, excepting Boxhill in Surrey ; and from the name, which has now been on record 

 for more than seven centuries, it must have been of long standing." 



Ray, Syn. ii. 310 (1696), speaking of box trees, says: "At Boxwel in Coteswold in Gloucestershire, and at Boxley in 

 Kent, there be woods of them. — Mr. Aubrey's Notes," Cf. p. 1727, note 5. 



