100 



SYLVA BRITANNICA. 



THE ABBOT'S WILLOW 



is of the species termed by botanists Salix Alba, 

 and is probably for size and age unequalled in the 

 kingdom. It stands in the grounds of John Ben- 

 jafield, Esq. at Bury St. Edmund's, on a part of the 

 ancient demesne of the Abbot of Bury, and which 

 was in the actual possession of the Monastery, at the 

 time of its dissolution. 



The author of that most pleasing work intitled 

 *' The Journal of a Naturalist," observes that "the 

 Willow is so universally subjected to pollarding, 

 that probably few persons have ever seen a willow 

 tree. At any rate, a sight of one grown unmuti- 

 lated from the root is a rare occurrence. The few 

 that I have seen constituted trees of great beauty." 

 One, in particular, in the meadows on the right of 

 the Spa House at Gloucester, he remarks, is so 

 healthy and finely grown that it deserves every 

 attention, and should be preserved as a unique 

 specimen ; an example of what magnitude this 

 despised race may attain when suffered to proceed 

 in its own unrestrained vigour." — p. 398. 



From the uncommon size of this tree, and its being 

 called " The Abbot," conjecture may lead us to sup- 

 pose that it was planted previously to the dispersion 



