12 



THE SPANISH CHESTNUT AS A SUBSTITUTE 



FOR OAK. 



[Read by Mr. Thos. Blashill, at the Midsummer Hill Meeting, June 19th, 1877.] 



Our transactions for the years 1866 and 1867 contain interesting discussions, 

 growing out of a paper by the Rev. H. Cooper Ket, on the varieties of Oak, 

 quercus pendunculata and Q. scssiliflora, in the course of which mention was made 

 of the supposed occurrence of the timber of the Spanish chestnut, castanca vesca, 

 in English mediasval carpentry. This question is of sufficient importance to be 

 the subject of independent consideration, for, besides the interest which it possesses 

 in a practical point of view, it furnishes one of the most curious instances of 

 popular delusion. 



Sir Christopher Wren, writing about the roof of Westminster Hall and 

 Abbey, accounts for the unsatisfactory condition of some parts of them by the 

 practice of mediteval carpenters to work "their chestnuts from Normandy." But 

 Evelyn seems to have had a better opinion of the timber, for he says, " it is much 

 sought after by carpenters and joiners." White, of Selborne, from his own in- 

 spection of some old trees, says, "the timber and bark are so very like oak as 

 might easily deceive an indifferent observer," and mentions that it has sometimes 

 been passed oflf as oak in the Royal dockyard. But he observes, that the wood is 

 " very shakey," so that the inward parts are of no use — which we find to be true 

 of old trees. About a century since. White's correspondent, the Hon. Daines 

 Barrington, was at great pains to examine into the question of the ancient use of 

 chestnut, but could get nothing better than the loose statements of carpenters 

 who had adopted the theory which was probably older than the time of Wren. 

 Yet the popular idea remained so strong in its favour, that, in 1808, the Society of 

 Arts offered prizes to those landowners who would plant the greatest number of 

 chestnut trees on their estates. Since that time the chestnut has been much 

 cultivated, and the wood of mature trees has now been available for several 

 years, being frequently used in situations that are usually considered too trying 

 for any timber but oak. This question has therefore assumed a practical interest, 

 for carpenters and others engaged in building, are very generally of opinion that 

 the best specimens of timber found in our old buildings are of chestnut, and will 

 act upon that opinion whenever they have an opportunity of substituting chestnut 

 for oak. 



Now, there is only one way of bringing this question to a satisfactory and 

 conclusive test — it is to examine undoubted specimens, recently fallen, of chestnut 



