Llandeilo Past and Present

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Trees and Woodland (3/4)

By Greg Howes

Dinefwr Park

The other site of major arboreal interest is Dinefwr Country Park, situated on the edge of Llandeilo town, which overlooks the Towy River. The country park itself is only open from April to October, but some of its public footpaths are open all year. This site has many areas to interest the general public It was, according to legend, the site of Rhodri Mawr's castle, who was king of Wales in 877, and the site has Roman connections as well. The site is owned now by the National Trust and has a former stately home in Newton Hall, white cattle and a deer park within its grounds. The site also boasts a 12th century castle with panoramic views of the Towy Valley. When mentioning Dinefwr in the 12th Century Gerald of Wales noted, "Dinefwr is where the royal Place of South Wales used to be; it is well protected by its site and surrounded by woods".

There are some exotic conifer plantings probably stemming from the mid-Victorian craze for unusual specimen trees. These prized exotics often arrived very shortly after their discovery by European plant hunters. There are seven massive Wellingtonias (Sequoiadendron giganteum) on site, the narrowest of which is 5 metres 80cm when measured at 1.5 metres. In their native Sierra Nevada home they can grow to heights of 300ft and live up to 3,000 to 4,000 years old, so our Carmarthenshire giants are hardly approaching adolescence yet.

The common name used for this tree (which is the world's bulkiest tree) is "Wellingtonia" and derives from a nurseryman's sales gimmick. The Duke of Wellington had died in 1852, and the tree was discovered by plant hunter William Lobb in California in 1853. It was decided to replace one giant with another one in the public's consciousness. It certainly worked and the Wellingtonias were a "must have" for any stately home or botanical park and replaced the "Cedar of the Lebanon" as the arboreal giant to grace their local piles. It is no surprise we find other specimens of these impressive trees with similar girths- at Gelli Aur, Arboretum, Tregib school, Ffairfach (also the home to one of the largest horse chestnut trees in Wales), and Pant Glas Hall. These trees grow very well in the damp Carmarthenshire climate, and were native to Britain in the Cretaceous period as seen in fossil evidence. These trees are a haven for the bird named the "Tree Creeper" of which Carmarthenshire has many. It also houses many insects and has a spongy fire-resistant bark, which is up to two feet thick in larger specimens.

Other evidence of this relatively new zest for exotic trees comes in the 1858 book "Llandeilo-Vawr and its neighbourhood" written by William Davies (Gwilym Teilo) where he mentions (when talking of exotic trees) "Many new varieties have lately been introduced into Dynevor and Golden Grove Parks"1, The book also mentions a tulip tree, or trees, present, some Carex and Medlar, as well as more common parkland trees of the day.

Capability Brown visited Dinefwr the in 1775, and probably had an influence over some of the planting scheme, though apart from the clumps of beech, it is difficult to ascertain just how great an influence he had over tree planting and the landscape.

Sir Richard Colt Hoare described Dinefwr woods in the 1790s and said that the oaks had been" perservered with a parent eye from the axe and must therefore, be reasonably ancient. There are quite a few Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) dotted around the site, one with a girth of 2 metres 40cms.

The Pine Legend

There is an interesting legend surrounding the planting of Scots pine. According to legend they were planted as a show of support or in remembrance of the final Jacobean revolt headed by Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745. That apparently is how they came by the nickname "Charley trees", and it is interesting to note that Lord Dinefwr in his book on the trees of Dinefwr estate (Spurrel 1934) reckoned the Scots pine on his estate were planted in 1745; whether he had evidence for this, or was just influenced by the legend it is difficult to say.

Wildlife of the Oaks

Oak treeClick for larger image

The magnificent oaks of Dinefwr's woods and deer park are a haven for a huge array of diverse wild life. There are many stately veteran and ancient oaks here of tremendous size. The girth of the largest oak ("the Castle Oak") on site has a rather noble girth of 1.5 metres (5 feet) and a height, of 8 metres 68 cms; experts estimate the approximate planting date of 1170. Many other pedunculate oaks have a girth of at least 6 metres. The largest ash tree (Fraxinus excelsior) has a girth of 6 metres 24cms, with an estimated planting date around the 1520s. An exceptional feature of these medieval plantings is the amount of maiden oaks in the park, particularly in the "Heronry", (maiden being a term used for a tree that has not been coppiced or pollarded in its life). The oaks in the Heronry provoked William Davies to write "What a splendid Heronry! See the height of those oak trees, some of them about 70 feet high." 2

Many of the rest of Britain's ancient oaks have survived because of crown reduction, but here at Dinefwr this is not the case. I think the Dinefwr nobles do seem to have regarded Woodland, certainly their timber trees, as a reflection of their wealth and status within the locality, much the same as Gelli Aur.

Large tree and woodlands have a special place in the psyche of local wealthy landowners, whether this springs from a distant memory of sanctuary in the protection of trees, or perhaps woodland represents self sufficiency in the shape of fuel in a wet climate, or indeed some sort of an insurance policy should their dealings with the outside world go pear shaped. Whatever the reason or reasons we should be thankful for this.

Of course these trees have exceptional aesthetic properties and are highly inspirational to the spirit, but on a more environmental front these ancient and veteran trees, of which there are nearly three hundred standing at Dinefwr, provide a home for a myriad of insects, some of which are rare. Also they are homes to a vast number of lichen species, which have a European and national importance, as being a natural indicator of air pollution. The veteran Oaks not only provide a wealth of habitat for other life when they are alive but they also dutifully fit this role when they are in decay.

Useful Fungi

One of the chief reasons Dinefwr is a site of specific scientific importance is its wide range of insect species which survives almost solely on deadwood. These areas of decaying timber furnish a rich environment for rare species of beetles and other insects. These decaying branches and tree trunks provide a vital haven for many species that would certainly stand no chance in our obsessively "tidy" gardens and parks. The ancient and veteran trees have some species of fungi that first colonized the tree centuries ago and can be useful indicators in showing the historical uses of the area and the land around it. These fungi would perhaps find it impossible to propagate themselves locally now due to the changes that have occurred around them.

Some species of fungi can causes heart rot on trees and can persist in their campaign for hundreds of years. This causes what is known as red wood decay and is found mainly on old broadleaf trees. This rot, though, actually enables an old tree to withstand the slings and arrows of the fickle weather, because this rot actually lightens the tree. Another feature of heart rot is that it is less likely to fall in on itself and the accompanying "skin" formed around this rot is actually very tough indeed. Oak heartwood suffering with beefsteak fungus (Fistulina hepatica, in particular can make a special veneer, which is very expensive indeed and much sought after.

Many of the fungal habitats have co-existed and co-evolved with these old trees, and provide a vital link in the recycling of nutrients back into the soils. They have a symbiotic (helping each other out) relationship with each other. This type of fungi is called Mycorrhizae fungi, and has this wonderful ability to share and transport nutrients around vast areas, acting as transformers along the way. Their interaction with trees helps to feed the tree by making it possible for the tree to gain access to nutrients far further than their roots alone could ever do. The fungi gain sugars from the plant's leaves, and the Mycorrhizae actually protect the plant from disease.

It is thought Mycorrhizae actually link up different trees in a complex underground web. In this web like tangle of hyphae; they set about helping out the trees by transferring nutrients and water from one tree to another.

Footnotes

  1. Davies, William, "Llandeilo-Vawr and its neighborhood"; page 161, Printed by D.W. &G. Jones, Rhosmaen Street. 1858
  2. Davies, William, "Llandeilo-Vawr and its neighbourhood"; page 134, Printed by D.W. &G. Jones, Rhosmaen Street, 1858.

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