Chelsea. Anciently “Chevelsey,” or “Shingle Island.” See “[Chiswick].”
Chequers. An inn sign derived from the arms of the Fitzwarrens, one of whom had the granting of vintners’ licences.
Cherry Bob. An old summer pastime for boys. A bunch of cherries suspended from a beam or tree-branch was kept swinging to and fro, while the boys, with their hands behind them, tried to catch the fruit with their mouths.
Cherry Gardens Pier. A name reminiscent of a popular resort of bygone days in connection with the “Jamaica” in front of which rum, newly arrived from the West Indies, was landed.
Cherry Pickers. The 11th Hussars, because, when captured by the French during the Peninsular War, some men of the regiment were robbing an orchard.
Chesapeake. Indian for “great waters.”
Chester. The city built on the Roman castra, or camp.
Chestnut. Edwin Abbey, the painter of the Coronation picture, is said to have been responsible for the term “Chestnut” as applied to a stale joke. While a member of a club at Philadelphia he always told a story about a man who had a chestnut farm, but made nothing out of it because he gave his chestnuts away. Abbey invariably began this story differently, so that his follow clubmen would not recognise it, but they soon interrupted him by exclaiming “Chestnuts!”
Chestnut Sunday. The first Sunday in June, when the chestnut-trees in Bushey Park at Hampton Court are in bloom.
Cheyne Walk. After Lord Cheyne, lord of the manor of Chelsea in the seventeenth century.