Where the wych elm grows
A SMALL boy stood beside a large, overhanging tree in a Hertfordshire garden in the 1880s. According to folklore, if pigs’ teeth were found in a tree’s trunk, chewing a small piece of its bark could cure toothache. This wych elm, with its few embedded teeth, held a deep fascination for the young boy as he played in the grounds of his home.
The lad grew into the novelist E. M. Forster (Morgan to his friends), who died 50 years ago this month. The wych elm was in the grounds of Rooksnest, where Forster lived for 10 impressionable years. Fans of will know that the tree carries a mystical weight, just like the character Mrs Wilcox, who was born in the