The Spanish chestnut (Castanea vulgaris) has no relationship with the so-called horse-chestnut, which latter, we might just mention, is solely employed as an ornamental tree, if we except its occasional use in cabinet-work. Evelyn, sixty years ago, speaks of it as being “all the mode for the avenues to their country palaces in France.” It has been much used for this purpose with us, and its magnificent flowers and fine foliage will ever recommend it as an ornament about country residences.
But to return to the Spanish chestnut. This tree is planted with us both for the growth of timber or as underwood for poles; for the latter purpose it answers well, as it soon grows up again after cutting, and in its young state it goes so soon to heart-wood that the poles are remarkably strong and tough.
As a timber tree, the chestnut has been very extensively extolled both in this country and on the Continent; it may, however, be concluded that although its wood is exceedingly useful, it has never been put to the important uses which have been claimed for it.
Evelyn, speaking of chestnut-wood, says:—“I had once a very large barn near the city, framed entirely of this timber.”
Sir T. D. Lauder tells us that the roof of the Parliament House in Edinburgh is constructed of chestnut, and we have often seen it stated that the magnificent roof of Westminster Hall has been framed of this timber;[28] but to quote from Selby’s admirable “History of British Forest Trees”:—
The fact is, as Buffon first observed, the wood of the oak, more particularly that of the sessile-fruited variety, assumes, in course of time, a near resemblance in colour to that of the chestnut in its best condition, or when young and untainted at heart; and as few chestnuts could have acquired the scantling frequently observed in the timbers of these ancient buildings at the age dialling or decay almost invariably commences, this in itself furnishes a strong argument against the use of chestnut timbers and beams by our ancestors, inasmuch as the trees must become unfit for the purpose long before they had attained the necessary dimensions.—P. 326.
[28] Many of the most ancient houses in London were built of its (chestnut) wood, as is the roof of Westminster Hall, built by William Rufus, in the year 1099, still free from any appearance of decay.—Sylva Britannica, p. 81.
But although we may safely dismiss the notion that chestnut is of the value formerly supposed, yet its timber is not without its uses; it is employed for smaller beams, gate-posts, piles, and other purposes where large timber is not required. Its best use is for poles, for which purpose chestnut may be employed as nurses to oak, thinning out the former as growth advances.
Dismissing, however, the subject of the economic value of the chestnut, whether for timber or fruit, as an ornamental tree it has few equals. There are many fine chestnut-trees in our country, but perhaps the finest, as it is supposed to be the oldest, sylvan veteran in England is the one at Tortworth, in Gloucestershire, of which Strutt says:—
In the reign of Stephen, who ascended the throne in 1135, it was deemed so remarkable for its size, that, as appears upon record, it[294] was well known as a signal boundary to the Manor of Tortworth. At the time that it was thus conspicuous for its magnitude and vigour, we may reasonably suppose it to have been in its prime; if, therefore, we pay any regard to the received opinion which is applied to the chestnut, equally with the oak, that it is three hundred years in coming to perfection, this calculation takes us back to the beginning of the reign of Egbert, in the year 800, for the commencement of the existence of the Tortworth Chestnut.