CHAP. CV.

CORYLa'cEAS. fiUE'RCUS.

1769

passion for relics; “ and a huge bulk of timber, consisting of many loads, wastaken away in handfuls. Several saplings were raised, in different parts ofthe country, from its acorns, one of which grew near St. James’s Palace ,where Marlborough House now stands ; and there was another in the BotanicGarden, Chelsea. The former has been long since felled ; and of the lattereven the recollection seems now almost lost.” {Mart. Mill.)

The Swilcar Lawn Oak {Jig. 1612.), in NeedwoodForest, measures 34 ft. in circumference near the ground,though it is supposed to be 1000 years old, and is knownby historical documents to have been a large tree morethan 600 years : it is still in a growing state. Struttstates that, about 1830, it measured, at 6 ft. from theground, 21 ft. 4J in. in circumference; and that 54 yearsbefore, when measured at the same height from theground, it girted only 19 ft. This oak is celebrated inMundy’s poem of Needwood Forest, and by Dr. Darwin.

In Bagot’s Park, near Blithefield, about four miles from Lichfield , thereare several very remarkable trees. Bagot’s Park is the seat of Lord Bagot,who may be regarded as one of the greatest planters of oaks “ in the kingdom ;having planted two millions of acorns on his estates in Staffordshire andWales.”(Strutt.) The Squitch Oak (Jig. 1613.) has a ^

clear trunk 33 ft. high, which contains 660 $$&&$(&&§

cubic ft.; one limb, 44ft. long; and 14 otherlimbs containing altogether 352 cubic feet;making a total of 1012 cubic feet of timber. . __

The total height is 61 ft.; the circumference, near 5

1613

the ground, is 43 ft. ; and at 5 ft., is 21 ft. 9 in.

The Rake’s Wood Oak is a very old tree, andhas lost many of its branches, and several feetof its height. It is now about 55 ft. high, andpretty nearly 30 ft. in circumference at 5 ft. fromthe ground. The Long Coppice Oak is rathersmaller than the last: it is very old and un-sound, and has lost many heavy branches, and many feet of its height. Bett’sPool Oak is a bull oak; that is, it is hollow, and open on one side. Thehollow is 9 ft. in diameter; but the trunk is only about 8 ft. high. The

Lodge Yard Oak is an old hollow tree,

. 1614

capable of holding a dozen people,

33 ft. 6 in. in circumference at 3 ft.from the ground. The Beggar’s Oak{fig. 1614.) is also in Bagot’s Park,and has a trunk 27 ft. 3 in. in circum-ference at 5 ft. from the ground : theheight is about 60 ft. “ The roots riseabove the ground in a very extra-ordinary manner, so as to furnish anatural seat for the beggars chancingto pass along the pathway near it;and the circumference taken around

these is 68 ft. The branches extend about 50 ft. from the trunk in everydirection. This tree contains 877 cubic feet of timber; which, including thew °uld have produced, according to the price offered for it in 1812,7™. (Lauder’s Gilpin, i. p. 254.) We have been favoured with the

dimensions of the above trees by Messrs. Thomas and George Turner,hrough the kindness of Lord Bagot. In Beaudesert Park there is a veryarge oak, the trunk of which is now a mere shell, sufficiently roomy to allow“ght people to stand within it. The late Lady Uxbridge often sat within thisJ ee > anc f there is a circular hole in the bark, through which she used toP ace a telescope, in order to amuse herself bv looking at objects in the sur-