Читать книгу A Book of Britain: The Lore, Landscape and Heritage of a Treasured Countryside - Johnny Scott - Страница 36

Wood from the common elm has many of the same qualities as alder; it is close-grained, free from knots, tough, flexible, and not prone to splitting. Elm does not crack once seasoned and is remarkably durable underwater, being specially adapted for any purpose which requires exposure to wet. Allowed to grow, it becomes a much more impressive tree than an alder, and can develop into a magnificent specimen, towering to a height of around 36 metres. These beautiful trees, with their haloes of reddish spring flowers and billowing summer foliage, were favourite subjects of the early landscape artists. Constable’s pencil drawing of the elms at Old Hall Park in 1817 captures all the romance, vigour and majesty of a tree that was once a familiar sight silhouetted across England’s skylines.

Tragically, elms are susceptible to a deadly beetle or wind-borne fungus, Graphium ulmus, and no one who was alive in the 1970s could possibly forget the devastation as Dutch Elm Disease ravaged elms across Britain, or the destruction of 20 million trees in an attempt to contain the epidemic. I well remember the year when miles of dead or dying hedgerows, park and city elms stood stark and haggard against the brightening colours of the growing season, giving an impression of both summer and autumn occurring simultaneously.

Elm wood had an enormous number of practical uses; its peculiar toughness and durability underwater made it ideal for keel pieces, bilge planks, jetty piles, groyne and harbour construction, the blocks and dead eyes of ships’ rigging, the bobbins of fish nets, and, since the wood shatters when struck rather than splintering, gun carriages were always made of elm. Because of the extreme toughness and weather-resistant properties, elm boards were largely used for making coffins, lining the interior of carts, wagons or wheelbarrows, and as cladding on houses and farm buildings. The inner bark is very tough and fibrous and was woven into rope or mats and, as with alder, elm wood was used in making water pipes prior to cast iron.

The dense grain of elm has one drawback which made old woodsmen wary of the tree: when the tree is in full leaf, a branch will suddenly, with no warning, snap and come crashing to the ground. This led to the superstition that, “The elm hateth man, and waiteth? Wych elm, or Scotch elm, which grows in northern England, Scotland and Wales and is the only species of elm native to Ireland, is a beautiful tree, smaller, broader and hardier than its southern cousin. It flourishes on hillsides or near the sea and the tree’s ability to establish itself in remote places has enabled pockets of Wych elm to survive Dutch Elm Disease.

The word ‘wych’ came from the Saxon word meaning pliable and refers to the twigs, which can be twisted and knotted without breaking, and the elasticity of the smaller branches – some of the best longbows were made of Wych elm. The wood, though more porous than that of the common elm, is tough, hardy and weather-resistant when properly seasoned, and in the north was used for similar water-based construction as common elm was in the south. The wood becomes very flexible when steamed and was much used in making small clinker-built boats. Wych elm wood is renowned for its great strength and resistance to splitting, due to the interweaving of the wood fibres which creates a cross-grained timber. The ability to resist splitting under great stress made it ideal for wheel-making, the strength of the hub being so critical that wheelwrights sourced elm from particular regions renowned for good wood. Wych elm blocks were used for pulleys, early gunstocks and the headstocks of church bells, stair treads, floorboards, table tops and the seats of chairs.