19 1 6 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



tells me that in the avenue at Earls Colne he measured a hollow tree 124 ft. by 

 24 ft. 4 in., but I cannot be sure that this is a true English elm. At Boreham 

 House there is a fine avenue leading to the main road from London to Chelmsford, 

 in which Mr. Shenstone in 1890 measured a tree 132 ft. by 20 ft. which he 

 considered to be the tallest in Essex; but when I was there in 1907 I could find 

 none taller than a double-stemmed tree of which the one half was 125 ft. by 17 ft. 

 and the other broken off at about 25 feet was 23 feet in girth. Nearer the coast 

 elms grow to a great size on the fertile brick earth, but usually are either U. major 

 or U. nitens. 



Gloucestershire holds the record for the tallest elms that I know of, which 

 are at Forthampton Court, near Tewkesbury, the seat of the late J. Reginald 

 Yorke, Esq. A tree, of which I saw the stump, was blown down in March 

 1895, ^"^d was reported by Mr. French, the gardener, in the Gardeners Magazine 

 for 6th April of that year, to have been 150 ft. by 20 ft., as measured on the 

 ground with a tape. Mr. Yorke confirmed this statement, assuring me that it 

 was considerably taller than one which I measured in 1906 at the same place, and 

 found to be about 140 ft. by 20 ft. A butt covered with ivy, about 23 ft. in girth 

 over bark, is broken off about 30 ft. high ; and its top is said to have been 40 yards 

 long as it lay. 



At Badminton there are two immense elms close to the kennels, the largest of 

 which measures 30 ft. in girth or 26 ft. if taken below a large burr. An immense 

 limb has broken off low down ; and the top of this tree as well as that of its neigh- 

 bour, which is 24 ft. in girth, were blown off many years ago. There are many 

 other fine elms and oaks in the park here, but I saw none of equal girth to the one 

 above mentioned. 



A splendid old elm, of which Col. Thynne has sent me a photograph, grows 

 near Thornbury Castle, and measures 93 ft. by 27^ ft. Elms containing from 600 

 to 1000 cubic feet of timber are mentioned by timber merchants as having been 

 felled on several occasions in the vale of Gloucester. The tree mentioned by Loudon 

 under the name of Piffe's Elm, which he says was in 1783 the largest tree in 

 Gloucestershire, was quite small in comparison with many now living. I saw two 

 blown down at Sandywell Park, the seat of C. W. Lawrence, Esq., which each 

 contained over 600 feet. 



In the valley of the Coin, close to an old Manor House called Compton Casey, 

 belonging to the Earl of Eldon, there are eleven (formerly twelve) fine elms growing 

 in a row only 90 yards long, which average 1 3^ ft, in girth and about 115 ft. high. 

 The largest is 16 ft. 9 in. in girth. 



At Cirencester, at Ampney, at Williamstrip, at Barnsley, and other places, 

 there are many large trees, which have, as they grow old, a tendency to become 

 very burry at the base, but on the more brashy soil of the Cotswolds they rarely 

 exceed about no ft. by 15 ft. 



At Huntly Manor, Gloucestershire, the seat of B. St. John Ackers, Esq., there 

 is a remarkable tree of which the text-plate gives a better idea than any description. 

 The watercourse when I saw it in September 19 10 was nearly dry, but runs freely 



