THE SHERWOOD FOREST OAKS.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATORM
Srrt,—Iu the review, the week before last, of Mr. Jennings's " Rambles," your reviewer quotes the passage in which the author says, "The finest oaks are said to be in the Park of Thoresby House ;" and again, "The domain of Thoresby, taken altogether, comprises by far the most attractive part of Sherwood." I am familiar with Sherwood, and am jealous for the old oaks outside the park, and not, I believe, be- longing to the domain of Thoresby. By far the most attrac- tive part of Sherwood, on the contrary, lies, north and south, between the park and the village of Edwinstowe, and, east and west, between Cockglode—Mr. Foljambe's place—and the Centre Riding, and is known as Birkland. The Major Oak, the oak called " the Butchers' Shambles," the Parliament Oak, and others, are all outside the park, and all the most fantastic and grotesque old. oaks. There, also, and nowhere else, are all the graceful and lovely birches—so marked a feature of Sher- wood—and there is the magnificent group of the nine Scotch firs, not far from the Buck Gate, which we knew amongst our- selves as the Nine Muses. Within the park the scenery is very lovely, but comparatively tame, notwithstanding the extensive sheet of water. Its great attractions are certainly not the oaks—which are very numerous but not to compare to the Birkland oaks—but the avenue of Spanish chestnuts, perhaps the finest in England, and two or 'three (I forget which) un- rivalled beeches, near the Proteus Lodge, than which the New Fovest itself can show nothing grander.
If your readers want to sec oaks in majesty and in weird grotesqueness, let them make their head-quarters at Edwin- stowe, and wander about Birkland.—I am, Sir, &c.,
Previous page
