Notable Elms
The Great Saling Elm
(I am indebted to Mr. L. G. Buckland of Dunmow for much of the information about this tree.)
The great elm, now dead, on Great Saling Green opposite the White Hart public house was
notable as one of the largest elms in Britain. I measured the dead and topped trunk in 1989. Its
girth at breast height (g.b.h.) was 22 ft. 6 in. In 1841 the girth was 17 ft. 10 in. and the height
was 114 ft. It thus grew about 4 ft. 8 in. in girth in its last 140 years. During World War II the
tree was lopped to reduce its height. It was thought to be a danger to aircraft taking off and
landing at a nearby airfield! The tree was estimated to be at least 350 years old
A collection was held in the White Hart to provide treatment for the elm tree once it had
contracted Dutch Elm Disease (at least 8 holes c. 1 in. across are visible in the trunk), but the
treatment was only partially successful and the resulting dead branches finally had to be cut off.
The trunk is now well decayed. In September 1989 I found two species of wasp provisioning
burrows in the wood, Ectemnius cephalotes and Pemphredon lugubris. The bark of the tree,
now falling off, was up to three inches thick, revealing galleries of Scolytus beetles. Bracket
fungi and a Pleurotus sp. were noted on the trunk and Ivy just beginning to creep up the trunk.
The Waltham Abbey Elm
(The following account is by Dr. K. N. Bascombe of the Waltham Abbey Historical Society
and appeared in the Society Newsletter in 1983.)
'The old elm tree in the churchyard, to which William Smith, one-time
Headmaster of Upshire Village School (many years ago) addressed some verses
entitled 'Arbor Antiqua', was finally removed on 24 May 1983 at 3 p.m. 'Felled'
would hardly be the correct word; for several months the barkless shell of the
trunk, filled with concrete a few years earlier in the hope of preserving it, had been
supported by steel props after a sudden lurch to one side. In spite of this, cracks
were developing in the shell and the final hour had clearly Corne for the pathetic
remains of a once impressive tree. The wood (which was only about one inch -
25 mm. - thick in parts) has been cut up: part of it will be mounted and displayed
in the Council Chamber in the Town Hall, and other parts may be worked into
souvenirs for sale.
How old was the tree? It seems unlikely that we shall ever know, but a
'guesstimate' seems possible. The tree died in 1974 from Dutch Elm Disease but
its decline appears to date from 29 July 1859 when one of its main branches fell
off during a storm. Other large limbs were removed shortly afterwards as a
precaution, and an iron band held together by nuts and bolts (giving rise to the
local joke about 'a tree bearing nuts all the year round') was fitted round the top
of the hollow bole. At this time, Burges' restoration of the church was in progress
and similar bands were placed round two of the nave pillars. Zinc plates were also
fitted across the top of the bole to help keep out rainwater. No doubt it was the
resulting patched and dilapidated appearance of the tree, combined with its girth
of over 20 feet (6.1 m.) which led our local historian, William Winters to suggest
(in the 1880's) that the tree must be at least 600 years old: this would now be
increased to 700. This seems excessive: A. Mitchell in 'A Field Guide to the trees
of Britain and Northern Europe' (London 1974 p.250) states that large boles are
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