1 9 14 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



very large nor very old. Of other very old trees mentioned by Loudon the 

 Crawley elm, also figured by Strutt (plate xxii.) is perhaps the finest remaining. It 

 stands in the Brighton road at one end of the town, and was in 1838, 70 ft. high and 

 61 ft. in girth at the ground. It was then hollow, and measured 31 ft. round the 

 inside, which was closed by a door, and it is said that a poor woman once gave birth 

 to a child in the hollow tree. Now it is a venerable wreck with some living branches ; 

 but the great swelling at the base which formed its immense girth is much decayed, 

 and owing to the suckers which have sprung from the ground round it, it is difficult 

 to measure. Miss Smith, who lives opposite the tree, told me that in her youth 

 she had seen twelve people seated at tea in the hollow trunk. The other 

 English elm figured by Strutt, which grew at Chipstead in Kent, was not a 

 very large tree, and died soon after he drew it. None of the other elms 

 mentioned by Loudon seem to have been as large as several which I have 

 measured, as will be seen in the following list drawn up in the alphabetical order 

 of the counties : — 



In Bedfordshire there are fine trees at Woburn Abbey and Wrest Park, but 

 most of the big elms in this county are U. nitens. 



In Berks the best that I have seen are in Windsor Park, where the " Long 

 Walk," leading from the Castle gates to the statue, is still one of the finest and 

 most imposing avenues in the world. I am indebted to Mr. W. C. Squires, who has 

 charge of the trees in Windsor Park, for reading and correcting when necessary, the 

 following account : — The planting of the Long Walk is ascribed by Menzies ^ to the 

 example of Evelyn, who states that in 1664 he planted some land at Says Court 

 with elms, " being the same year that the elmes were planted by His Majesty in 

 Greenwich Park." In 1670 Evelyn visited Windsor. " King Charles II,," he says, 

 " passed most of his time in hunting the stag and in walking in the Park, which he 

 was now planting with rows of trees." In 1678, 1679, and 1680, Evelyn 

 was at Windsor again. In 1680 a survey of the land between the Castle 

 and the Great Park was made, and the intervening fields were purchased 

 at a cost of ^1242:4:9. We may safely presume that the planting of the 

 Long Walk was at once commenced. The distance from the Castle to the 

 statue is af miles. There were originally 1652 trees. The distance between 

 the two inner rows is 50 yards. The trees are 30 feet apart from each other 

 in two lines also 30 ft. apart, perhaps rather too close for the health of the trees. 

 At the end nearest the Castle the soil is loam from 10 to 15 feet deep over- 

 lying chalk, and here the trees have done well and are mostly still sound. Where 

 they have room enough, as in the adjoining part of the Park, there are many really 

 fine trees up to 120 ft. in height and 15 ft. or 1 6 ft. in girth; but farther on where 

 the soil is clay overlying gravel, and beyond the double gates where it is heavy 

 clay, the trees are much smaller, and many have died at various periods and been 

 replaced with elms of varied character, many of which now are, and never will be 

 anything but an eyesore. Previous to 186 1 the condition of this part of the avenue 

 had attracted attention, and a good deal of correspondence on the subject had taken 



1 History of Windsor Great Park and Forest, l^ (1864). 



