Il 
“M". that Thomas Davis my tennaunt at Shelton told me in Shelton’s fylde comying from Bycketon the 
inith day of Aprell a°. 1543, before W™. Tydde’ theld* dwelling at or by Wodcote—That he hathe hard his fad". 
and other auncyent men dwellyng in Shelton (where the said Thom‘. now dwelleth) unto the m’ckett and fylds 
etc. was throughe the grounde that is now the folde or courte ageanste the gret mansion there ; belong now to 
ric. Mytton, esquier, and of him holden by Nycolas Purcell of Salop, and for farther dparens thereof the pavement 
of the said courte exstendyng from my said house in Shelton towards the highe strete of the said toune. 
“Farther he saythe, that by cause the grounde wherby the said gret oke standeth is moche more nearer 
waye and handsom* onto the moost of the said filds of Shelton, m’ckett mylle, and moost of y" convenient places 
to resort to, and for that oon lande of grounde belongyng to my said house stode right and next to the folde 
southe east ende of my saide house—which said lande of grounde did lye and dothe streight upon the said 
gret oke,” &c. 
This extract will suffice to prove that the Shelton Oak was esteemed @ great one within 140 years of the 
battle of Shrewsbury, and an object of remark to old people ong before that period. 
The circumference of this tree at one foot and a half from the ground is thirty-seven feet, and at five feet from 
the ground it is twenty-six feet. 
PLATE XVIII—THE BOUNDS-PARK OAK 
Tis beautiful tree stands in the full pride of symmetry and vigour, in Bounds-Park, near Tunbridge, the 
residence of the Earl of Caledon ; from the windows of whose mansion it presents an object perpetually tempting 
the eye to admire the elegance of its form, and the redundancy of its foliage. To the casual observer of nature 
the view of one tree may seem much like the view of another; and that a forest itself is more calculated to strike 
the imagination by the greatness of its aggregate, than to interest it by the variety of its detail: but it is very 
different with the ardent contemplatist of Nature; with him, as is well observed by St. Pierre, (himself an 
unwearied admirer of her charms,) “every tree has an expression of its own, and every group has its concert.” 
He loves to trace in each individual specimen, its peculiar anatomy and character. Every winding branch, and 
every shooting stem, has a charm for him; and he is interested throughout each stage of the existence of these 
wonderful vegetable structures, from the tender sapling, to the leafless withered trunk. 
The age of the Bounds-Park Oak is not known; but it appears to be in its prime, and zenith of perfection, 
and bids fair to ornament the spot on which it stands for several centuries to come. Its circumference, at two 
feet above the ground, is twenty-two feet; at twelve feet, where the stem divides, it is sixteen feet nine inches, 
Tt is sixty-nine feet in height; and the extent of the boughs from east to west is oneshundred and fourteen feet, 
and the solid contents of the tree are eight hundred and ninety-two feet. 
PLATE XIX.—THE MOCCAS-PARK OAK. 
Tus ancient tree, which at three feet from the ground is thirty-six feet in circumference, is in the Park of 
Moceas Court, on the banks of the Wye, in Herefordshire, the seat of Sir George Amyand Cornewall, Bart., who 
traces his ancestry from Richard, second son of King John, Earl of Cornwall, and King of the Romans. The 
estate is fraught with historical associations, which extend themselves with pleasing interest to this ancient 
“monarch of the wood,” among whose boughs the war-cry has often reverberated in former ages, and who has 
witnessed many a fierce contention for the domains on which he still stands, in venerable, though decaying 
majesty, surrounded by aged denizens of the forest, the oldest of whom, nevertheless, compared with himself, seem 
but as of yesterday, 
