TREE ANATOMY-OLD BEECH AT OLD MOOR HOUSE

I have often photographed the old beeches at Old Moor House.This place was the site of a rather basic inn alongside a drovers' route from Scotland.It is situated on rough moorland at what must have been an inclement height in winter. The alignment of the route was changed in the mid C19 to a lower position. The inn, which may have been called The Swinburne Arms, probably fell into disuse about that time.It would have been a hard enough living to earn at the best of times but if the drovers no longer passed by it must have become even more precarious.These  beeches provide shelter and pollarded wood , again perhaps into the C19 but eventually they were left to develop. They are planted in a regular formation and give the local sheep a green oasis and shelter. A burn runs through the middle.It was Tennyson who wrote of "the serpent-rooted beech" and the phrase is entirely apt here.

TREE ANATOMY

TREE ANATOMY 1

TREE ANATOMY 2