24th November 1824

I have often been struck with astonishment at the tales old men & women relate in their remembrances of the growth of trees the elm grooves in the Staves Acre Close at the town-end were the rooks build & that are of giant height my old friend Billings says he remembers them no thicker than his stick & saw my fathers uncle set them carrying a score on .his back at once I can scarcely believe it.