Is This an Elm I See Before Me?

Botany is not my strong suit, but in the early seventies I remember Dutch elm disease striking Britain. In an attempt to defeat the problem, some local councils cut down all their elms and burnt them, efforts were made to medicate notable specimens while dangerous trees were removed. There was an enormous elm just beyond the bottom of our garden when Sis and I were at school; she admits to being scared of it in those days when it was healthy and would run past it in case it fell on her. After it was felled, I went along and counted its rings, I forget exactly how old it was but it was well over 100 years. Now there is no trace of it's giant stump.

I was under the impression that there were very few elms remaining these days but would be unable to identify them if there were any. The other day, I compared this specimen with pictures on the internet as I had no idea what it is but it would appear to be elm. Since then I have realised that there are dozens (if not hundreds) of them in our local glen which does make me rather suspicious of the identification. I will investigate further.

I have a childhood recollection of stories about Witches being buried under the roots of young elms after execution, the growing roots imprisoning them for as long as the tree survived. Whether these were fairy stories, legends or history I have no idea; however, the thought of our elm being struck by lightening made thunderstorms interesting.