What is an Arbele Tree?

When you are working with any old documents you will come across words whose meaning you don't know - and they may be archaic or dialect words. In looking at Folio 41 of William Brown's Account Book I found the above entry in the account for Joseph Grout of Tring Park.

The entry is clear. In 1851 Harris (possibly Joseph Harris, builder, of Berkhamsted) cut down a number of arbele trees, and a few months later cut down two more. While the exact location is not stated William Brown handled other transactions for Joseph Grout relating to a farm at Wilstone occupied by William Greening.

So what is an "arbele" tree. It is clearly not an Ash, which is mentioned on the same page, and an 1850 newspaper advert also rules out beech, elm, sycamore and fir. I turned to my collection of modern printed dictionaries and none of them included it. My Webster's Dictionary (1860 edition) does not have it - the nearest word being "arbalist" which was an old word for a cross-bow. Perhaps arbele wood was used to make the shaft of a cross-bow I thought - but I am sure Harris did not want to make crossbows. The original printed Oxford English Dictionary didn't have it either - but its coverage of agricultural and other technical terms has many missing words. However the online edition of the Oxford English Dictionary gives the following definition:

The white poplar tree, Populus alba. Formerly also the grey poplar, Populus X canescens (obs.)

  This is where you must be careful not to jump to conclusions "just because the dictionary tells you." The quotations used to support this definition are in most cases unclear about which species of poplar tree is being mentioned. If we visit the area of William Greening's farm there are black poplars everywhere. They were obviously deliberately planted in the hedge rows (because there are only male trees they could not be self seeded) and the oldest trees might well be a couple of hundred years old. All the older ones have been pollarded. All the evidence suggests that they were considered as a commercial crop. There is one problem. They are black poplars, not white poplars.

See The Black Poplars of the Wilstone Area for the evidence for arbele being used to describe black poplars - at least in the Vale of Aylesbury area.

Please let me know if you find other places where the word has been used.

Herts Past & Present - Contents of Issue No 16

Herts Past & Present

Autumn 2010

Issue No 16

Contents

Brief Guide to Sources: Apprenticeship Indentures

Lydia Hope's inventory of paintings and Charles I's art collection (St Albans)

Some of Hertfordshire's Special Trees

The Great Bed of Ware: A Literary History

Property ownership in twelve Hertfordshire parishes in the nineteenth century (Hitchin area)

More Information

Can you trace your ancestors back to the time this tree was an acorn?

Trees

The Great Oak at Panshanger, by Thomas Medland

The Panshanger Oak was so impressive that in 1814  Thomas Medland painted it as a fine example of an oak tree and later published engravings of it. In 1841 Queen Victoria visited it to admire its immense size and the surpassing beauty of its growth, for which it has not its rival in the Kingdom. And it is still standing, the oldest maiden oak in the country, and is believed to be at least 600 years old.

For more about its history (including extracts from old newspapers) and recent pictures, see The Panshanger Oak.

Special Trees & Woods of the Chilterns

As some of you may know there is a page on this web site with pictures of Hertfordshire Trees which were considered notable 100 years ago. There is also another page with old pictures of Tombs with Trees in Hertfordshire Churchyards. In connection with these trees I was in touch with Rachael Sanderson several years ago about a project to record interesting old trees in the Chiltern Hills.

Today I attended the Chilterns Countryside and Food Festival at Ashridge and discovered a book, Special Trees & Woods of the Chilterns, was been published in 2010. It is an attractive volume which deals with trees and woods in Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire (the vast majority are here), Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire. The Hertfordshire section deals with:

• Woods of the Whippendell Valley
• Ashridge
• War Wounds
• Hockeridge and Pancake Woods
• Abbey Pagoda
• Domesday Oak
• Croxley Green Commerative Trees

Tombs with Trees in Hertfordshire

I have posted a page of tombs with mature trees growing out of them in Aldenham, Tewin and Watford.

Do you know of other examples - preferably with a picture?

Family Trees or Woodland Trees.

Measuring an ancient beech tree at Ashridge

When we draw up our family trees we tend to forget that there are living trees which were around when out great great great (or more) grandfathers were alive. The above beech tree is in the Ashridge National Trust estate, not far from where I live, and is about 200 years old. It is the 100,000 tree to be recorded in the Ancient Tree Hunt and can be seen in the 100,000th tree video

Thomas Godman's map of 1803 (from Aldbury, The Open Village) showing that about 210 years ago the  location of the tree (approx location shown) was open common land.

If you want to know where there are ancient trees near where your Hertfordshire ancestors lived, which they could have seen, you could try looking at this Interactive Map although I am sure there are many more trees to be recorded.

See also 

Old Pictures of Ancient Hertfordshire Trees