And now it only remains to say a word or two as to the surroundings of Welbeck.
Welbeck Park, and the closely adjoining forest of Sherwood, have ever been noted for their fine venerable trees—oaks that have stood for ages, and bid fair to stand for ages yet to come. Many of the then fine old trees were cut down “by the rebels” when Welbeck became for a time their prey during the civil wars, but many still remained; and those then in their prime have now become more venerable with age. A few of the more noted may just be named. The “Duke’s Walking-stick,” so called from its long straight stem, when described in 1813, and earlier by Major Rooke, who considered it to be unmatched in the kingdom, measured 111 feet 6 inches in height, was estimated to weigh about 11 tons, and contained about 440 solid cubic feet of timber. It no longer exists, but another tree, a “young walking-stick,” we are informed, of nearly a century and a half’s growth, is about 100 feet in height. The “Two Porters,” standing a little distance apart, and named “the Porters” from a gate and fence having formerly stood between them, are described as being about 98 and 88 feet in height, and 38 and 34 feet in circumference; they stand nearly at the north extremity of the park, not far from the south lodge of Worksop Manor, and are marvels of growth and girth.
The “Seven Sisters,” situated about half a mile from the “Two Porters,” is one of the most remarkable trees anywhere in existence. It consisted originally of seven stems springing from one general root, and rising perpendicularly to a great height—no less than 88 feet, the circumference of the common trunk close to the ground being over 30 feet. Some of the sister stems have from time to time been blown down, but the tree is still a noble and interesting one. Near it “a hollow tree, in circumference 20 feet 9 inches, supposed to be three hundred years old, was used as a place of concealment from whence the keeper could aim at the deer.”
The Greendale Oak.
The “Ruysdael Oak,” so called because of being in form and condition one of those peculiar trees which that painter delighted to introduce into his pictures, stands on a commanding eminence in the park, not far from the “Seven Sisters,” and forms a striking object from whichever side it is seen. Venerable in its age, lovely in its decay, this “grand old oak” stretches out its weird-like naked branches in every direction, and forms a landmark that cannot be mistaken. From it, and, indeed, from many points on this side of the park, some strikingly beautiful views of the mansion, the lake, and the grounds are obtained.
In the part of the grounds known as “The Wilderness;” in the various drives that intersect the forest; in the remains of “Merrie Sherwood,” which form a part of the estate; and, indeed, in every direction, noble oaks many centuries old, limes of marvellous beauty, and chestnuts of enormous growth are abundant, and give an air of unsurpassed grandeur to the domain. There is also, in another part of the grounds, a fine avenue of aged oaks.
The “Greendale Oak” is, however, of all trees, the most curious, venerable, and interesting. It lies some half a mile south of the Abbey, and is computed to be one of the oldest trees in existence in this country. Throsby, in his “Thoroton,” supposed it to be, when he wrote, “upwards of 1,500 years old,” and Major Rooke, a few years previously, that it was “thought to be above seven hundred years old;” thus opinions of contemporary people varied some eight hundred years in their computations. “In Evelyn’s time it was 33 feet in circumference at the bottom; the breadth of the boughs was 88 feet, covering a space equal to 676 square yards.” In 1724, the opening, from decay, in the stem of the tree was enlarged sufficiently to allow of the passage of an ordinary carriage, or three horsemen abreast. Through this opening one of the noble owners is said, with his bride, to have been driven in a carriage drawn by six horses, on the occasion of his marriage. The tree has been repeatedly engraved, one old plate representing the carriage being driven through the opening, and another representing a horseman passing through it. In 1727 the Countess of Oxford, the then owner of Welbeck, had a cabinet made from a portion of the wood taken out of the opening. It is inlaid with representations of the carriage and six horses passing through the tree, and other designs, and bears the following quotation from Ovid:—
“Sæpe sub hac Dryades festas duxure choreas
Sæpe etiam manibus nexis ex ordine trunci,
Curcuiere modum mensuraque roboris ulnas.
Quinque ter implebat. Nec non et cætera lentum
Silva sub hac omnis, quantum fuit herba sub omni;”
and Chaucer’s lines—