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18 The Trees <strong>of</strong> Great Britain and Ireland<br />
BEECH AVENUES<br />
Sir Hugh Beevor has sent me a photograph <strong>of</strong> a remarkable avenue <strong>of</strong> beech<br />
<strong>trees</strong> called Finch's Avenue, near Watford, which is composed <strong>of</strong> straight, clean,<br />
closely planted <strong>trees</strong> up to 120 feet high (Plate 2).<br />
As an avenue tree <strong>the</strong> beech is one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> most stately and imposing that we<br />
have; but probably because <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> difficulty <strong>of</strong> getting tall, straight standards from<br />
nurseries, and <strong>the</strong>ir tendency to branch too near <strong>the</strong> ground when planted thinly,<br />
<strong>the</strong>y are not so much in vogue as <strong>the</strong>y were two centuries ago. One <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> finest<br />
examples I know <strong>of</strong> in England is <strong>the</strong> grand avenue in Savernake Forest, <strong>the</strong><br />
property <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Marquess <strong>of</strong> Ailesbury. This was planted in 1723, and extends for<br />
nearly 5 miles from Savernake House to <strong>the</strong> hill above Marlborough. It is<br />
described and figured in <strong>the</strong> Transactions <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> English Arboricultural Society, v.<br />
p. 405, and though <strong>the</strong> <strong>trees</strong> are not individually <strong>of</strong> quite such fine growth as those<br />
at Ashridge, yet, forming a continuous green aisle meeting overhead, for such an<br />
immense distance, it is even more beautiful than <strong>the</strong> elm avenue at Windsor, or <strong>the</strong><br />
lime avenue at Burghley, and surpasses both <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m in length. The Savernake<br />
avenue, however, is not like those above mentioned, planted at regular distances, but<br />
seems to have been cut out <strong>of</strong> a belt.<br />
The beech avenue at Cornbury Park, <strong>the</strong> property <strong>of</strong> Vernon Watney, Esq., to<br />
whom I am indebted for <strong>the</strong> following particulars, is, on account <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>great</strong> size <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
<strong>trees</strong>, one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> most imposing in England. It was probably planted or designed by<br />
John Evelyn, whose diary, 17th October, 1664, says : " I went with Lord Visct. Cornbury<br />
to Cornbury in Oxfordshire, to assist him in <strong>the</strong> planting <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> park, and beare him<br />
company, dined at Uxbridge, lay at Wicckam (Wycombe)." They reached Cornbury<br />
<strong>the</strong> following day, and among <strong>the</strong> entries for that day is <strong>the</strong> following: " We<br />
designed an handsom chapell that was yet wanting as Mr. May had <strong>the</strong> stables,<br />
which indeed are very faire having set out <strong>the</strong> walkes in <strong>the</strong> park and gardens."<br />
This Lord Cornbury who, after his fa<strong>the</strong>r's death, became Lord Clarendon, records in<br />
his diary, " 1689, September 25. Wednesday. The elms in <strong>the</strong> park were begun to<br />
be pruned." This avenue is 800 yards long, and runs from <strong>the</strong> valley where <strong>the</strong><br />
<strong>great</strong> beech grew, up <strong>the</strong> hill to <strong>the</strong> house. Many <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>trees</strong> seem to have been<br />
pollarded when young at about 15 feet high, but have shot up immense straight<br />
limbs to a height <strong>of</strong> 100 to 110 feet, some even taller.<br />
The Ten Rides in Cirencester Park affords a good illustration <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> value<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> beech for bordering <strong>the</strong> broad rides through a <strong>great</strong> mass <strong>of</strong> woodland ; but<br />
<strong>the</strong> <strong>trees</strong> here, as at Cornbury and in so many <strong>of</strong> our old parks, have seen <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
best days, and when blanks are made by wind or decay, it is beyond <strong>the</strong> power<br />
<strong>of</strong> man to restore <strong>the</strong> regular appearance <strong>of</strong> such a vista.<br />
Whatever pains may be taken to replant <strong>the</strong> gaps, <strong>the</strong> <strong>trees</strong> never seem to run<br />
up as <strong>the</strong>y do when all planted toge<strong>the</strong>r, and <strong>the</strong> art <strong>of</strong> planting avenues does not<br />
seem to be so well understood or so much practised now, as it was in <strong>the</strong> seventeenth<br />
and eighteenth centuries.<br />
Fagus<br />
REMARKABLE TREES<br />
As an instance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> rapid growth <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> beech, I will quote from a letter <strong>of</strong><br />
Robert Marsham <strong>of</strong> Stratton Strawless, near Norwich, to Gilbert White, dated<br />
24th July 1790, in which he says : " I wish I had begun planting with beeches (my<br />
favourite <strong>trees</strong> as well as yours), and I might have seen large <strong>trees</strong> <strong>of</strong> my own raising.<br />
But I did not begin beeches till 1741, and <strong>the</strong>n by seed; and my largest is now at 5<br />
feet, 6' 3" round, and spreads a circle <strong>of</strong>+ 20 yards diamr. But this has been digged<br />
round and washed, etc." In Gilbert White's reply to this letter, dated Selborne,<br />
13th August 1790, he says: "I speak from long observation when I assert, that<br />
beechen groves to a warm aspect grow one-third faster than those that face to<br />
<strong>the</strong> N. and N.E., and <strong>the</strong> bark is much more clean and smooth."<br />
Marsham, replying to White on 3 ist August (it seems to have been at least fifteen<br />
days' post in those days from Norfolk to Hants), says : " Mr. Drake has a charming<br />
grove <strong>of</strong> beech in Buckinghamshire, where <strong>the</strong> handsomest tree (as I am informed<br />
by a friend to be depended on) runs 75 feet clear, and <strong>the</strong>n about 35 feet more in<br />
<strong>the</strong> head. I went on purpose to see it. It is only 6 F. 6 I. round, but straight<br />
as possible. Some beeches in my late worthy friend Mr. Naylor's park at Hurst-<br />
monceux in Sussex ran taller and much larger, but none so handsome." In a later<br />
letter he speaks <strong>of</strong> one being felled here in 1750 which "ran 81 feet before it<br />
headed."<br />
Sir Hugh Beevor informs me that he found it impossible to identify with<br />
certainty <strong>the</strong> <strong>trees</strong> measured at Stratton Strawless by Marsham, which we shall have<br />
occasion to allude to later. 1<br />
It would be impossible to mention more than a few <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> finest beech <strong>trees</strong> in<br />
this country, but <strong>the</strong> photographs which have been reproduced represent a few <strong>of</strong><br />
those which I have seen myself.<br />
In Hants <strong>the</strong>re are many fine beeches in <strong>the</strong> New Forest, <strong>of</strong> which <strong>the</strong> wood<br />
called Mark Ash contains some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> most picturesque, and is to my eyes one<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> most beautiful woods from a naturalist's point <strong>of</strong> view in England, or even<br />
in Europe, though it is, like so many <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> fine old woods in <strong>the</strong> New Forest,<br />
deteriorating from causes which are described elsewhere. One <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> finest <strong>trees</strong><br />
here is over 100 feet high and 24 feet in girth, dividing at about 10 feet into six<br />
immense erect limbs, and entirely surrounded, as are many <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>trees</strong> in this wood,<br />
by a dense thicket <strong>of</strong> holly.<br />
There is ano<strong>the</strong>r beech in Woodfidley in <strong>the</strong> New Forest which Mr. Lascelles<br />
considers <strong>the</strong> finest beech in <strong>the</strong> forest, and <strong>of</strong> which <strong>the</strong> measurement as given by<br />
him is 120 feet high, 14 feet 6 inches in girth at 5 feet, carrying its girth well up,<br />
with an estimated cubic content <strong>of</strong> 650 feet.<br />
In Old Burley enclosure is ano<strong>the</strong>r magnificent beech, ra<strong>the</strong>r shut in by o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
<strong>trees</strong>, and <strong>the</strong>refore difficult to measure for height. I estimated it at 110 feet high.<br />
The girth was 18 feet, dividing at about 25 feet into two main trunks, which carried a<br />
1 Cf. Trans. <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Norfolk and Norwich Nat. Soc. ii. 133-195.