Malta.
_Age of Trees_ (Vol. v., _passim_).--In the _Saturday Magazine_ of Dec. 29,
1832, mention is made {194} of Owen Glendower's Oak, at Shelton, near
Shrewsbury,--a tree famed from the tradition attached to it, which states
that the celebrated chieftain whose name it bears overlooked, from its
branches, the desperate battle which took place between Henry IV. and Sir
Henry Percy, on the 20th July, 1403.
"There is no difficulty, in believing," says E. B., "from the present
appearance of the tree, that it is old enough to have been of a
considerable size in the year 1403. Oaks are known to live to a much
greater age than this; and there are documents which prove that the
Shelton Oak was a fine large tree some centuries ago. It is perfectly
alive, and bears some hundreds of acorns every year, though it has
great marks of age, and is so hollow in the inside, that it seems to
stand on little more than a circle of bark. At least six or eight
persons might stand within it.
"The girth at the bottom, close to the ground, is 44 feet 3 inches; at
five feet from the ground, 25 feet 1 inch; at eight feet from the
ground, 27 feet 4 inches. Height of the tree, 41 feet 6 inches."
What is known of this old oak at the present time? If it has passed away,
perhaps its memory may claim a place in your columns: if not, will some of
your correspondents give me some information respecting it?