The "Box Hill and Mickleham Downs Historic Landscape Survey" by N. R. Bannister 1997 p. 25 has this: "Evidently the oldest trees [on the Box Hill Estate] are the large-leaved limes at the bottom of the Whites, reputed to be over 800 years old. The multiple stems indicate that they have been coppiced in the past". The reference that she gives is "Woodlands of Box Hill", L. Grundy 1994.
The "British Wildlife" magazine, Vols 12-13 2000 p. 87 refers to a "a huge ancient [coppice] stool by the River Mole. This is repeated in "Hidden Trees of Britain", A. Miles 2007 p. 63, except that the reference there is to "huge coppice stools" (plural).
The first apparent reference to large-leaved limes here is "Pinax Rerum Naturalium Britannicarum, C. Merrett 1666 p.118, which reads (under the synonym Tilia ulmifolio): "At Whitstable, Surrey, and near Darking (sic)." This is quoted in "The English Flora", J. E. Smith 1825 who adds: "On the banks of the Mole, near Box-Hill. [Reported by] E. Forster". The latter is the famous botanist Edward Forster the Younger.
In "Biological Flora of the British Isles: Tilia platyphyllos", C. D. Pigott 2020, p. 2648, we have: "At Boxhill (sic) in Surrey, there are a few scattered old trees of T. platyphyllos first recorded in 1665, one a very old tree on the rim of a sink-hole of the River Mole (described in Pigott 1981), another an ancient pollard". The reference is to "The Status, Ecology and Conservation of Tilia platyphyllos in Britain", C. D. Pigott 1981 which was published in "The Biological Aspects of Rare Plant Conservation", H. Synge (Ed.) 1981, pp. 311-316. It reads: "A few [T. platyphyllos] trees grow at the foot of the cliff and on the rim of a swallow hole where there is an enormous tree with a basal girth of about 8m". Unfortunately the location that he gives, 51°15'N 0°18'W, is useless as it lacks seconds.
I've assumed that the Pigott 1981 reference is to this ensemble. The sink-hole is just to the east, and is not on the river.
The "Box Hill and Mickleham Downs Historic Landscape Survey" by N. R. Bannister 1997 p. 25 has this: "Evidently the oldest trees [on the Box Hill Estate] are the large-leaved limes at the bottom of the Whites, reputed to be over 800 years old. The multiple stems indicate that they have been coppiced in the past". The reference that she gives is "Woodlands of Box Hill", L. Grundy 1994.
The "British Wildlife" magazine, Vols 12-13 2000 p. 87 refers to a "a huge ancient [coppice] stool by the River Mole. This is repeated in "Hidden Trees of Britain", A. Miles 2007 p. 63, except that the reference there is to "huge coppice stools" (plural).
The first apparent reference to large-leaved limes here is "Pinax Rerum Naturalium Britannicarum, C. Merrett 1666 p.118, which reads (under the synonym Tilia ulmifolio): "At Whitstable, Surrey, and near Darking (sic)." This is quoted in "The English Flora", J. E. Smith 1825 who adds: "On the banks of the Mole, near Box-Hill. [Reported by] E. Forster". The latter is the famous botanist Edward Forster the Younger.
In "Biological Flora of the British Isles: Tilia platyphyllos", C. D. Pigott 2020, p. 2648, we have: "At Boxhill (sic) in Surrey, there are a few scattered old trees of T. platyphyllos first recorded in 1665, one a very old tree on the rim of a sink-hole of the River Mole (described in Pigott 1981), another an ancient pollard". The reference is to "The Status, Ecology and Conservation of Tilia platyphyllos in Britain", C. D. Pigott 1981 which was published in "The Biological Aspects of Rare Plant Conservation", H. Synge (Ed.) 1981, pp. 311-316. It reads: "A few [T. platyphyllos] trees grow at the foot of the cliff and on the rim of a swallow hole where there is an enormous tree with a basal girth of about 8m". Unfortunately the location that he gives, 51°15'N 0°18'W, is useless as it lacks seconds.
I've assumed that the Pigott 1981 reference is to this ensemble. The sink-hole is just to the east, and is not on the river.