40 REPORTS OF MEETINGS FOR 1909 



of many of the species which during a previous visit he had been 

 able to name. As a record of his careful study and an inventory 

 of the collection, there follows a list of the trees as they are 

 enumerated in the Dilston Estate books: — (1, la, 7, 11, 13), 

 Picea alba ; (5), P. excelsa (Norway Spruce) ; (4), P. excelsa 

 var. pendula ; (15), P. pungens ; (20), P. orientalis ; (6, 22), 

 Abies nobilis ; (8), A. Nordmarmiana ; (25), A. pectinata ; 

 (27), A. cephalonica ; (3), Abietia Douglasii ; (23), Pinus Laricio 

 var. Monspeliensis ; (2), Juniperim Virginiana (Red Cedar) ; 

 (10), J. chinensis ; (19), Sequoia gigantea ; (24), Librocedrus 

 decurrens ; (9), Thuja occidentalis (American Arborvitse) ; 

 (16, 18), T. gigantea (Lobbi) ; (12, 14, 17), Cupressus Law- 

 soniana ; and (26), C. Nootkaensif< var. j^endula. The 

 vigorous condition of all of them was generally remarked, 

 though cones were by no means frequent. At the farther 

 end of the approach and close by the Chapel, stands a venerable 

 Chestnut (yEscuhts Hippocastanum), estimated to be three 

 hundred years old, whose spreading limbs cover an area 81 feet 

 in diameter, and whose girth at 4 feet 6 inches, roughly 

 estimated, exceeds 14 feet. The Estate Agent, Mr John 

 Balden, having joined the party, members were conducted 

 towards the domestic Chapel, where the Secretary read a short 

 paper on the history of the Derwentwater family and their 

 connection with the estate. Dilston is believed to have derived 

 its name from the Devylstones, a family in possession during 

 the reign of Henry II. (1154-89); and it is possible that an 

 earlier reference in the reign of Henry I. to the house of 

 D'Eivill may have given rise to the corrupted title of Devil's 

 Water, by which the stream bounding it on the West has come 

 to be known. In course of time the estates passed into the hands 

 of the Tynedales, the Claxtons, and the Cartingtons, the 

 latter family ending in an heiress, whose daughter married 

 Sir Edward Radcliife. Forfeited during the Commonwealth, 

 the property was restored by Charles II., when Sir Francis 

 Radcliffe was created Baron Dilston and Earl of Derwent- 

 water. He was succeeded by his son, Edward, who married 

 Lady Mary Tudor, youngest natural daughter of Charles II., 

 and so established a blood relationship with the house of 

 Stuart, which in after years brought disaster upon his family. 



