WRW #21: High Mill - Chestnut Giants
The cache, a small camo-taped plastic pot, is hidden in the right-hand base of the southern giant.
To reach the cache location: follow the lovely riverside trail ~170m north from GC7EJRY WRW#20: Addingham Suspension Bridge.
High Mill
The cache is hidden some 160m south of High Mill with its weir. A medieval corn mill was first mentioned in 1315, near where High Mill is today and the weir, slanting across the river, is one of the oldest medieval structures in Addingham. It was destroyed by a storm in 1776 but rebuilt the following year. At the start of the 19th century the textile industry began to thrive in Addingham. Existing mills, such as the water-powered one at High Mill which had been built shortly after Low Mill to produce corn, were converted, extended and used for producing linen, cotton, worsted, and finally for silk spinning. It is not known when the mill closed down but the conversion to the present residential units occurred in the late 1980s.
Horse Chestnut
The horse-chestnut or conker tree (Aesculus hippocastanum) is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is a large deciduous, synoecious (hermaphroditic-flowered) tree.
Some key & fascinating facts (for further info see here):
· there are 470,000 horse chestnut trees in Great Britain: England 432,000, Scotland 29,100, Wales 11,100. Most are in non-woodland sites
· grows up to 40m (131') tall
· related to the lychee
· widely cultivated in parks & gardens in temperate climates
· conkers were collected and used as a source of starch during WW1 and WW2 to produce acetone (by fermentation) for use in making cordite (explosive)
· In Germany, it is often found in beer gardens, particularly in Bavaria. Before mechanical refrigeration, brewers would dig cellars for lagering. To further protect the cellars from the summer heat, they would plant chestnut trees, which have spreading, dense canopies but shallow roots which would not damage the caverns. The practice of serving beer at these sites evolved into the modern beer garden.
· Horse Chestnut Seed Extract may be an efficacious and safe short-term treatment for chronic venous insufficiency (further trials are required)
· It is a popular subject for bonsai
· A famous specimen was the Anne Frank Tree in the centre of Amsterdam, which she mentioned in her diary and which survived until August 2010, when a heavy wind blew it over. 11 young specimens, sprouted its seeds, were taken to the USA. After a prolonged quarantine, each young tree was shipped off to a new home at a notable US museum or institution, such as the 9/11 Memorial Park, Central H.S. in Little Rock, and two Holocaust Centres
See here for a short encyclopaedic video of photos relating to the species.
See here for a 2015 BBC article on Why We Love Conkers & Horse Chestnut Trees.