Ancient Beauly tree which died recalled in art by botanical illustrator
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For more than 800 years, it stood at the entrance to Beauly Priory as a silent witness to the passing of history.
But in January this year, the Beauly elm – an ancient wych (Scots) elm believed to be oldest in Europe – toppled over.
Once a much-loved and distinctive landmark, it had finally succumbed to Dutch elm disease.
It has now been characterised in a detailed fine-line pen and ink drawing by botanical artist and illustrator Bernard F Carter for his book Travels to Trees.
- Ancient tree believed to be Europe's oldest elm falls down
- Digital 3-D image shows Europe's oldest elm
Mr Carter's illustrated book is described as a leisurely odyssey through the British countryside in search of ancient trees many of which have associations with love, legend and myth and have witnessed the passing of time over thousands of years.
In the section, Death of the Beauly Elm, Mr Carter reflects how it would have been a decent-sized tree when William Wallace was victorious over the English in 1297 at Stirling Bridge and a very mature tree when Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded in 1567.
"Now this venerable and much revered old tree, its hollowed and diseased trunk, a mass of decayed wood no longer capable of hanging onto its roots lay fallen, having missed by inches an old headstone but successfully knocking over a rather grand tombstone, no doubt rattling a few old bones as it crashed to the ground," he reflects.
Mr Carter, who lives in Cornwall, was alerted to its demise within hours via phone call from his brother-in-law.
Although his immediate reaction was to leap into his car to make the 1400-mile round trip, inhospitable weather and a crippling fuel bill convinced him of the impracticality of such an impulse.
He writes: "Luckily, the report was already online courtesy of Highland News & Media who generously and promptly furnished me with a set of photographs depicting the fallen elm from which I could create a drawing."
Mr Carter, who was educated at the Joseph Wright School of Art, has been a botanical illustrator for over 45 years.
He holds two Royal Horticultural Society Gold medals and has paintings in the RHS archives.
The Beauly tree was the last survivor of an avenue of elms, and in its latter years had less than five per cent living material but remained an iconic sculptural element.
Beauly Priory, a monastery established by Valliscaulian monks in the 1230s, is owned by Historic Environment Scotland (HES) which laser-scanned the tree two years ago in a ground-breaking venture.
Although the HES digital documentation team had previously laser-scanned buildings, it was the first time it has scanned a tree.
The project involving taking 1800 photographs from different angles and heights.
