172 THE CHESTNUT. 



the Parliament House in Edinburgh is constructed of it : 

 and the beams, and roofing, and strange projections of 

 many of the wooden houses, which had stood for ages in 

 the ancient part of tlie Scottish capital, and which were 

 recently pulled down, were found to be of Chestnut ; and 

 what is curious, the timber seems to have been procured 

 from a suburban forest, resembling that on the north side 

 of ancient London ; for it appears, from the city records, 

 that large Oaks and Chestnuts formerly covered the space 

 called the Borough-moor, a wild piece of ground, then 

 lying about two miles to the south-west of the city." 

 Gilpin also states, that he had seen in the belfry of the 

 church at Sutton, near Mitcham in Surrey, beams like 

 Oak, yet plainly appearing to be of a different kind of 

 timber, and supposed to be Chestnut. 



Another argument in favour of this opinion is derived 

 from the fact that there are in England several places 

 which take their name from these trees, consequently that 

 the trees must have grown there in considerable abun- 

 dance before such names Avere given. Such are, Norwood 

 ('hesteney in the parish of Milton near Sittingbourne, 

 and Chestniit Hill near the same place. In Hertfordshire 

 is a town called in old writings Cheston, Chesthunte, 

 Shesterhunte and Cestrehunt ; and Philpot, who wrote in 

 1659, says : "There is a manor called l!^orthwood Chas- 

 teners, which name complies with the situation, for it 

 stands in a wood where Chestnut-trees formerly grew in 

 abundance." 



Evidence still more direct is afforded by the mention 

 of trees existing in a living state, at periods of time more 

 or less remote. For example, there Avas in the parish of 

 Milton in Elizabeth's time, a Chestnut-wood containing 

 ^78 acres, and called Cheston. The forest near London 

 described by Eitz-Stephen is also quoted by Miller, Lauder, 

 and others, but unfortunately, as we shall see by and by, 

 Avithout examining the original author. The great Tort- 

 worth Chestnut in Gloucestershire, to be described here- 



