TREES OF MARLBOROUGH COLLEGE AND ENVIRONS 23 
meadow. This has an ancient trunk, girth 550 cm, 
which fell in the distant past, layered in several 
places and formed a secondary vertical trunk 660 
cm in girth at 3ft from the ground. As far as 
comparisons are possible for this complex tree, it 
would seem to be another national champion, and 
is described fully elsewhere (Oliver 2002) Of three 
other very large White Willows, one at the far SE 
angle of the SE Trout Ponds has a_ basal 
circumference of 505cm (at lft), and carries 
colonies of epiphytic Intermediate Polypody 
(Polypodium interjectum) with exceptionally long 
fronds for any native fern of this genus. 
Some of the College Poplars are large trees, and 
one (Populus x canadensis ‘Serotina’) has a large 
basal coppice, circumference (at lft), of over 6 
metres. None compares with one just outside the 
College boundary, by the River Kennet north of 
Marlborough’s George Lane. This is a Railway 
Poplar (Populus x canadensis ‘Regenerata’), 
Marlborough’s biggest and tallest tree. The girth 
here is 680cms, confirmed by the Tree Register of 
the British Isles (TROBI) as the largest tree of its 
kind ever recorded. 
Fagaceae 
The largest Oak (Q.robur) by the New Pavilion 
north of the A4 and east. of the Kennels has a girth 
of 462cm. Neither this tree, nor the American Red 
Oaks (Q.rubra/borealis) nearby, come anywhere near 
County girth records, but the New Pavilion English 
Oak is a tall, stately tree for which there are old 
historic photos. There is an impressively 
symmetrical and attractive ‘Poplar Oak’ (Q.robur 
‘Fastigiata’) in a private garden off Marlborough 
High Street at the edge of College properties. This 
cultivar of the English Oak has a girth of 280cm at 
5ft (above seven branches), and 362cm at lft, 
making it the largest of its kind in Wiltshire. 
As with the Oaks, the fine large College 
Common Beeches are surpassed by many 
elsewhere in Wiltshire, especially in Savernake 
Forest. However, for Copper Beeches, the story is 
different; from girth measurements to date, 
Marlborough College has five of the top ten largest 
trees in Wiltshire, ranging from 350 to over 400cm 
in girth. One of these in the Master’s Garden is 
‘The Tennyson Beech’, under the shade of which 
Alfred Lord Tennyson composed some of his most 
famous works when visiting his nephew, a student 
at Marlborough College. Its girth in 2001 was 373 
cm. 
Acer cappadocium (photograph by Foan Davis, 2002) 
Aceraceae 
The three Coliseum Maples (Acer cappadocium) in 
the Master’s Garden and near the north bank of the 
River Kennet are probably the three largest in 
Wiltshire. The TROBI records place no 1778 (girth 
265cm) as the Wilts County Champion; no 1751 is 
actually larger, but low forking makes direct 
comparisons difficult. All three trees are surrounded 
by dense widespread masses of red shoots derived 
from root suckers. North-east of Littlefield House, 
the two largest of three large Norway Maples (Acer 
platanoides) have girths of 339 and 320 cms. Old 
TROBI records would indicate one larger Norway 
Maple in Wiltshire, but I think this record was 
erroneous, and the two largest Littlefield trees are 
indeed the two largest Norway Maples in the county. 
Many boundary and hedgerow Field Maples have 
been coppiced or cut back over many years. One 
such Field Maple near the gate of one of the water 
meadows has a linear base which supports six trunks. 
Its circumference at lft is 620cms; but as with some 
other hedgerow Field Maples, it is hard to know 
whether or not more than tree has coalesced. There 
is a clear single-trunk Field Maple behind the 
Preshute tennis courts Leylandii hedge. Its girth is 
300cm, making it the second largest in the county. 
