Tree-rings, sometimes called shelter belts or ornamental rings, were a characteristic element of designed demesne landscapes, typically planted in the eighteenth or nineteenth century to frame a view, mark a boundary, or simply signal that land had been shaped by intention rather than left to its own arrangement. A circle of mature trees rising from otherwise open ground has a geometry that feels slightly at odds with the surrounding countryside, which is precisely what draws the eye once you know what you are looking at.