of Archdeacon Elwes, are two of the largest planes in England, one of them, which is partly hollow at the base, but has been filled up with brickwork, being about 105 feet high by no less than 25 feet in girth. The other, a better-shaped and very vigorous tree, is 100 feet by 10 feet, with a bole 12 feet long. In Colonel Lascelles’ grounds close by, there is another splendid plane, 110 feet high by 11 feet in girth, with a bole 30 feet long. At Cowdray, in the same neighbourhood, there are some fine old planes at the bottom of the park, two which I measured being about 80 feet high and over 15 feet in girth.
There is a very fine tree at Rickmansworth which, when measured by Henry in 1904, was 105 feet by 16 feet 3 inches. Another at the same place was 103 feet by 15 feet. Sir Hugh Beevor tells us of a fine tree at Shotesham, Norfolk, the seat of R. Fellowes, Esq., which, in 1904, was 100 feet by 17 feet 8 inches.
I measured a very tall and handsome tree, which appears to be growing fast, at Albury, in 1905, when it was at least 105 feet high by 11 feet 3 inches (Plate 178).
A tree which appears from its leaves to be more or less intermediate between the oriental and London planes is growing at Boconnoc in Cornwall, and is decaying, the climate being probably too damp for it, as I have seen no very large plane trees in the far west. In 1905 it was about 85 feet by 11 feet 2 inches.
At Hampton Court, Herefordshire, there is a fine tree on the lawn, which was measured in 1881 by Hogg, when it was 80 feet by only 8 feet 6 inches, and when I saw it in 1905 had increased to 95 feet by 14 feet 6 inches. I cannot help suspecting a mistake in the earlier measurement of girth, as an increase of 6 feet in twenty-four years seems extraordinary.
At Eastwell Park, Kent, there is a tree in a shrubbery drawn up by surrounding trees to a height of 105 feet, though the trunk is only 8 feet 6 inches in girth.
At Fawley Court, Oxfordshire, there is a row of four large trees about 100 feet high, and from 16 to 18 feet in girth, which are probably of no great age. In this damp alluvial soil they seem likely to become as large as any in England.
At Ashleigh College, on the east side of Mortlake, close to the Thames, a group of five trees form a conspicuous feature in the landscape. One of these is 110 feet in height and 10 feet in girth.
At Pains Hill, Cobham, Surrey, there are six or seven very large trees, one of which measured, in 1904, 100 feet high by 15 feet in girth.
At Chipleigh, near Minehead, a very fine plane, said to be an occidental plane, but undoubtedly a London plane, which was planted in 1760, is recorded by Mr. E.C. Batten’ as being, in 1888, 105 feet high by 15½ in girth, with a spread of 120 feet.
At Heron Court, Ringwood, the seat of the Earl of Malmesbury, there is a London plane, which measures 90 feet by 11 feet 5 inches, and has a stone at the base with the date 1707 cut on it. A woodpecker’s hole in the trunk, which is clean for about 35 feet, shows that this tree has begun to decay.
At Ribston Park,? Yorkshire, there is a tree which appears to be as old as any that I have seen. Tradition says that it was brought over by the Knights Templars,
1 Trans. Eng. Arb. Soc. ii. p. 221.
2 Gard. Chron. xxx. 34 (1901).
