xliv 
PROCEEDINGS. 
3. “ Some Recent Storms and Floods in Hertfordshire.” By 
John Hopkinson, F.L.S., F.G.S., F. R. Met. Soc., Assoc. Inst. C. E. 
(.Transactions , Yol. XI, pp. 239-244.) 
4. “ The Meteor of the 13th of July, 1902.” As seen at 
"Watford, by John Hophinson. As seen at Hitchin, by Alfred 
Latchmore. ( Transactions , Yol. XI, p. 244.) 
5. “ Historic Trees of Bedfordshire.” By William Horley. 
(Communicated by James Saunders, A.L.S.) 
The Author gave an account of the following trees :—The 
Abbot’s Oak in Woburn Park, Queen Catherine’s Oak in Ampthill 
Park, and the Monmouth Oak in Toddington Park. 
The Abbot's Oak. —This stands in front of Woburn Abbey, and 
bears a tablet commemorative of the event which has made it 
historic. It is the tree upon which the Abbot, Thomas Hobbs, was 
hung in the reign of Henry YIII, in front of his monastery, for 
joining in an insurrection. The event is described in Dodd’s 
‘History of Woburn and its Abbey,’ 1818, and in Robinson’s 
‘History of Woburn Abbey,’ 1827 ; and the tree is illustrated in 
Strutt’s ‘ Sylva Britannica,’ 1826 (plate x). 
Queen Catherine's Oak. —This is one of the many old oaks in 
Ampthill Park, and is said to have been a peculiar favourite of 
“ good Queen Catherine ” (Catherine of Arragon, first wife of 
Henry YIII), who resided in the old mansion-house of Ampthill, 
no longer existing, during her trial for divorce at Dunstable. It is 
described in a series of articles on our historic oaks which appeared 
in the ‘ Weekly Yisitor’ for 1852. 
The Monmouth Oak. —This tree is about two hundred yards 
north of the Manor House of Toddington, and is surrounded by 
a fence. The Duke of Monmouth was married at the age of 14, 
without his consent, to Anne, Duchess of Buccleugh. The 
marriage was an unhappy one, and he fell in love with the 
Baroness Henrietta Maria Wentworth, of Toddington, and carved 
her initials on this tree. After his execution Lady Wentworth is 
said to have died of a broken heart. A mark still remains on the 
tree, but the initials “ H. M. W.” cannot now be made out. 
Mr. Hopkinson said that Woburn Park was noteworthy in 
containing an ash-tree which was considered to be the largest in 
England. Its dimensions were given in ‘English Forests and 
Forest Trees’ (1857), and it formed plate xxii of Strutt’s ‘ Sylva 
Britannica.’ Loudon, in his ‘Arboretum,’ gave the dimensions of 
several taller trees, but of none which contained so great a bulk 
of timber. 
