. Old sports and sportsmen : or, The Willey country. sometimes upon an aged treeitself, bald with antiquity, * telling of parentforest tracts, like the Lady Oak at Cressage, whichformerly stood in the public highway, and sufferedmuch from gipsies and other vagabonds lighting * There is a legend that Major Smallman, a staunch royalist, sur-prised by some of Cromwells troopers, hotly pursued over Prest-hope, turned from the road, spurred his horse at full gallop to theedge of the precipice, and went over. The horse is said to havebeen killed on the trees, whilst the Major escaped, and secretedhi
. Old sports and sportsmen : or, The Willey country. sometimes upon an aged treeitself, bald with antiquity, * telling of parentforest tracts, like the Lady Oak at Cressage, whichformerly stood in the public highway, and sufferedmuch from gipsies and other vagabonds lighting * There is a legend that Major Smallman, a staunch royalist, sur-prised by some of Cromwells troopers, hotly pursued over Prest-hope, turned from the road, spurred his horse at full gallop to theedge of the precipice, and went over. The horse is said to havebeen killed on the trees, whilst the Major escaped, and secretedhimself in the woods. Facts and local circumstances concur ingiving a colouring to the tradition, and deeds extant show that thefamily resided here from the reign of Henry III. to the timementioned. See Appendix C. t See Appendix. E 50 EOYAL CHASE OF SHIRLOT. fires in its hollow trunk, but which is now propped,cramped, and cared for, with as much concern asthe Druids were wont to show to similar trees. Ayoimg tree, too, sprung from an acorn from the. Lady Oak. old one, has grown up within its hoUow trunk,and now mingles its foliage with that of the are a few fine old trees near Willey, sup-posed to be fragmentary forest remains. One is ROYAL CHASE OF SHIRLOT. 51 a patriarclial-looking ash in the public road at Bar-row ; another is an oak near the Dean; it is oneof which the present noble owner of Willey showsthe greatest pride and care. There are also twonoble trees at Shipton and Larden; the one at thelatter place being a fine beech, the branches ofwhich, when tipped with foliage, have a circum-ference of 35 yards. A magnificent oak, recentlycut down in Corve Dale, contained 300 cubic feetof timber, and was 18 feet in circumference. This,however, was a sapling compared with that king offorest trees which Loudon describes as having beencut down in Willey Park. It spread 114 feet, andhad a trunk 9 feet in diameter, exclusive of thebark. It contained 24 cords of yard w
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