This champion of Welsh independence, it has been already shown, assembled his forces at Oswestry, from whence, according to Holinshed, he sent off only his first division, consisting of 4000 men, who behaved with spirit in the day of action. The Welsh historians, however, have censured his conduct on this occasion, and blame him for what it appears from some cause he was unable to effect, viz. in neglecting to attack Henry after the battle, when the royal forces had sustained a severe loss and were overcome with fatigue, and when his own followers and the remainder of the northern troops would have formed an army nearly double that of the king’s.
There are documents to prove that this oak was “a great tree” within 140 years after the Battle of Shrewsbury, and was an object of remark to old people long before. It is now a chronicle to the eye of the passing traveller, and to those who delight to be carried back into the depth of antiquity. Long may it be preserved from injury, and viewed as the natural historical monument of our vicinity; for Time has truly
Hollowed in its trunk
A tomb for centuries; and buried there
The epochs of the rise and fall of states,
The fading generations of the world,
The memory of man.
According to a recent measurement, the tree is 41½ feet in height; the girth at the base is 44¼ feet, and at eight feet from the ground 27¼ feet.
The interior is hollow, consisting of little more than a shell of bark, forming an alcove capable of holding a dozen individuals; and notwithstanding the branches of this aged tree have borne the blast of many a wintry storm, still it may be said—
The Spring
Finds thee not less alive to her sweet force
Than the young upstarts of the neighbouring woods,
So much thy juniors, who their birth received
Half a millennium since the date of thine.
THE ABBEY FOREGATE.
Passing over the English, or east bridge, from which there is a striking prospect of the town and the tower on the Castle Mount, we reach a small tract of ground, comprising a few houses, called
MERIVALE,
or, Murivale, probably from its connexion with the walls.