Petworth measured one which exceeds in height the group of three which grow near my own house at Colesborne, of which I give an illustration (Plate 63). The height of these as measured in 1902 by Sir Hugh Beevor and myself was 105 feet, and the girth of the largest 11 feet. They grow in a sheltered situation, on damp, cold soil. One of these trees being inclined to split at the base, owing to the great weight and length of one of its principal limbs, was chained up many years ago, and though the iron band which was put round it has become buried in the wood the limb has not broken off.
At Dynevor Castle, Carmarthenshire, the seat of Lord Dynevor, where the park contains a greater number of fine trees than any I have seen in South Wales, there is a very large tree which the Hon. W. Rice measured in 1906 and found to be 109 feet by 17 feet 9 inches. For height and girth combined this seems to be the largest tree in Great Britain.
The tallest tree I have seen is in a grove of beech, chestnut, oak, and silver fir, which grows near the house at Petworth Park, the seat of Lord Leconfield in Sussex, on a deep greensand formation. This tree, though forked at six feet from the ground, has been drawn up to a great height by the trees surrounding it, and though difficult to measure exactly, probably exceeds 115, and may be 120 feet. The two stems are g feet 8 inches and 8 feet respectively in girth.
In Bushy Park most of the horse-chestnuts are past their prime; many of the old trees are dead and have been replaced by young ones. The largest, seen in 1906, was growing near the gate; it had a bole of 20 feet giving off four great stems, and measured 100 feet high by 16 feet 5 inches in girth. Another near the pond was 101 feet by 16 feet 1 inch.
At Birchanger Place, near Bishop Stortford, the seat of T. Harrison, Esq., there is one of the largest and finest trees in England, which measures about 80 feet by 20 feet, with a bole about 15 feet high and a spread of 32 yards; a beautiful photograph was taken in 1864 when the tree was in flower, but it is now partially decayed on the north side, and has lost some large branches.
At West,Dean Park, Sussex, the seat of W.D. James, Esq., there is a large tree about 70 feet by 16 feet, with branches spreading over an area no less than 36 yards in diameter.
At Hampton Court, Herefordshire, the seat of John Arkwright, Esq., there is a very fine tree growing on deep alluvial soil in the big meadow south of the house. Measured by T. Hogg in 1881[1] it was 93 feet by 16 feet 6 inches. When I saw it in 1905 it had increased about three feet in height and was 18 feet 7 inches in girth, and still handsome and vigorous.
The largest trees I have seen as regards girth and spread of branches are in Ashridge Park, on a bank near the lodge on the Berkhampstead road. The largest of these is about 80 feet high and 20 feet in girth, with extremely wide-spreading branches, and there are several others of 16 to 17 feet girth in the row. These trees are growing on a dry, flinty, calcareous loam.
- ↑ Trans. Scot. Arb. Soc. ix. p. 151 (1886).
