1764 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICF/ITM. 



PART III. 



1(502 



quite hollow, and the cavity large enough to 

 hold at least 30 persons. An arm was blown 

 ofFin 1811, which contained 2 waggon loads 



of wood. (Anon, Qitfr., tbl. 14/) A drawing 

 of this tree, of which fig* 1603. is a copy, was 

 sent to us by Samuel Taylor, Esq., of Whit- 

 tington, near Stoke Ferry, Norfolk, accom- 

 panied by the following observations : — " Of 

 the age of this remarkable tree I regret to be 

 unable to give am correct data. It is said to 

 have been called the ' Old Oak' at the time 

 ot* William the Conqueror, but upon what 

 authority I could never learn. Nevertheless, 

 the thing is not impossible, if the speculations 

 of certain writers on the age of trees be at all correct. Mr. South, in one of 

 his letters to the Bath Society (vol. x.), calculates that an oak tree 47 ft. in 

 circumference cannot be less than 1500 years old; and Mr. Marsham calcu- 

 lates the Bentley Oak, from its girting 34 ft., to be the same age. Now, an 

 inscription on a brass plate affixed to the Winfarthing 

 Oak gives us the following as its dimensions : — " This 

 oak, in circumference, at the extremities of the roots, 

 is 70 ft.; in the middle, 40 ft. 1820." Now, I see no 

 reason, if the size of the rind is to be any criterion of 

 age, why the Winfarthing should not, at least, equal the 

 Bentley Oak ; and, if so, it would be upwards of 700 

 years old at the Conquest ; an age which might very well \W& 



justify its then title of the * Old Oak.' It is now a mere shell — a mighty 

 ruin, bleached to a snowy white ; but it is magnificent in its decay ; and I do 

 wonder much that Mr. Strutt should have omitted it in his otherwise satis- 

 factory list of tree worthies. The only mark of vitality it exhibits is on the 

 south side, where a narrow strip of bark sends forth the few branches shown 

 in the drawing, which even now occasionally produce acorns. It is said to 

 be very much altered of late ; but I own I did not think so when I saw it 

 about a month ago (May, 1836); and my acquaintance with the veteran is of 

 more than 40 years' standing ; an important portion of my life, but a mere 

 span of its own." (Gard. Mag., vol. xii. p. 586.) 



Northamptonshire. This county is celebrated for its forests, which are said 

 to be sufficient in themselves to build more than twice the number of ships 

 which now compose the British navy. There are, also, a great number of old 

 trees in this county; probably because the inland situation of it rendered the 

 conveyance of timber to the coast too expensive. Some of the most inte- 

 resting of these trees stood in Yardley Chase, which was once a part of Salcey 

 Forest, though it has been long disforested, and is now the property of the 

 Marqnesi Of Northampton. In Hayley's Life and Posthumous Writings of 

 William Oowper, at the end of the third volume, there is an interesting 

 poetic fragment, entitled " Yardley Oak," of which the following explanation 

 is given in a letter from Dr. Johnson, a kinsman of the poet: — "Among our dear 

 C o w p er ' a papers, I found the following memorandum: — ' Yardley Oak, in 

 L'irt, feet 22, inches fr§. The oak at Yardley Lodge, feet 28, inches 5.' As 

 to the Yardley Oak, it stands in Yardley Chase, where the Marquess of North- 

 ampton hai B fine seat [Castle Ashby]. It was a favourite walk of our dear 

 Cowper ; and he once carried me to see that oak. I believe it is five miles, at 

 least, from Weston Lodger. It is indeed a noble tree, perfectly sound, and 

 stands in an open part, of the chase, with only one or two others near it, so as 

 to DC Men to advantage. With respect to the oak at Yardley Lodge, that is 

 quite in decay ; a pollard, and almost hollow. I took an excrescence from 

 it. in tDC year 1701 ; and, if I mistake not, Cowpcr told me it is said to 



have been n oak in the time of the Conqueror. This latter oak is in the 



road to the former, but not above half BO far from Weston Lodge, being 



