Pretty as a picturesque
QUESTION Why did Colonel Thomas Johnes plant more than three million trees in Wales?
Born at Ludlow in 1748, Thomas Johnes was an MP for Carmarthenshire, a colonel in the militia and a key figure in the picturesque movement, an aesthetic ideal to reveal ‘that peculiar kind of beauty’ in architecture and the landscape ‘which is agreeable in a picture’.
He bought an estate 15 miles inland from Aberystwyth called Hafod Uchtryd, which means the summer place of Uchtryd, a former owner.
To create his personal paradise, between 1782 and 1813, Johnes planted 1,200 acres of forest. European larch and Scots pine were planted on high ground, with oak and beech on more fertile land. This amounted to at least three million trees.
A mansion was built by Bath architect Thomas Baldwin and magnificent gardens were laid out.
Johnes also promoted experimental techniques in sheep and cattle breeding and the growing of new crops. He was awarded the royal Society of Arts medal five times for his tree planting schemes.
His picturesque Eden attracted many visitors, including leading figures in science, agriculture and the arts.
In 1807, the mansion was destroyed in a fire. Johnes was in London attending Parliament when he heard the news that his family had escaped. Baldwin was hired to rebuild the mansion.
Johnes had hoped his work at Hafod would be carried on by his children, but his son, Evan, died in infancy and his botanist daughter Mariamne passed away, aged 27, during a visit to London in 1811.
His health began to fail and he fell into financial difficulty. He sold the estate in 1814 and died two years later.
In the 20th century, Hafod became increasingly run down and the mansion was demolished in 1958. The restoration of the estate began in the late 1980s.
In 1994, the Hafod Trust was formed to run it with Forestry Commission Wales, now natural resources Wales.
More than ten miles of trails and rustic bridges have been restored, as well as the garden and picturesque features such as the cavern cascade, a tunnel and mossy seat waterfalls.
Mrs Ellen Pritchard, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion.
QUESTION Who had the oldest international debuts in cricket, rugby and football?
AT 49 years and 119 days, James Southerton became the oldest player to make a Test debut.
Initially a batsman, he became a highly proficient slow round-arm bowler, taking 1,682 first-class wickets at an average of 14.43. In 1867 he represented Hampshire, Surrey and Sussex in a single season when regulations permitted this.
The first ever Test was a two-match series in Melbourne in 1877. In Australia’s first innings, Southerton took three wickets, but England lost the match.
In the second Test, he took four second innings wickets, which helped England win the match and tie the series 1-1.
In his retirement he was landlord of the The Cricketers pub on Mitcham Green, South London.
The oldest international rugby Union player is Mark Spencer, who was 57 years and 340 days when he represented Qatar in the Asian 5 nations Competition vs Uzbekistan in Dubai on April 25, 2012.
He was born in the U.S., but took Qatari residency, allowing him to represent the national side.
Crystal Palace goalkeeper Alec Morten was football’s oldest debutant. His date of birth is disputed as 1831 or 1832, but he could not have been younger than 41 when he captained England in their second official game, against Scotland at Kennington oval in London in 1873. England won 4-2.
Matty Turner, Gosport, Hants.
QUESTION Does the Queen still receive a celebratory lamprey pie from the people of Gloucester?
THE city of Gloucester presents the sovereign with an ornately decorated lamprey pie on special occasions, such as coronations and jubilees.
Eels were caught in their hundreds of thousands in medieval England and commonly used to pay rent to landlords. But lampreys — jawless fish that resemble eels — have always been a high-status food.
Sea lampreys and European river lampreys were much sought after as a delicacy by the Ancient romans. English royalty in the Middle Ages prized them.
They were trapped in the river Severn and so valued were the lamprey pies made in Gloucester that in 1200 the city was fined 40 marks (£38,000 in today’s money) for failing to supply one to the sovereign.
The Earl of Chester presented King John with one lamprey and was given a horse by way of thanks.
In the 14th century, the 4th Baron Berkeley paid the equivalent of £5,000 to send two lampreys to Edward III.
And Henry I supposedly died after eating ‘a surfeit of lampreys’ while on a military campaign in France.
The fish were associated with Christmas, when they were scarce, and enjoyed by the wealthy on fast days as a tasty substitute for meat.
Gloucester continued its lamprey pie tradition until 1836, when the number of these fish in the river Severn was declining rapidly. nowadays, they are a protected species and have to be sourced from elsewhere.
recipes for the celebration pie vary, but usually involve baking the fish in a high crust with syrup, lemon, wine or spices.
Ian MacDonald, Billericay, Essex.
IS THERE a question to which you want to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question here? Write to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT; or email charles.legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection is published, but we’re unable to enter into individual correspondence.