26 



THE CHESTNUT. 



rises round it, and its venerable roots are nearly 

 hidden by the lighter saplings and bushes that 

 have sought the protection of its boughs, making 

 it appear a grove in itself — a fit residence for 

 some sylvan deity. 



It is only on approaching within the very limits 

 overshadowed by its spreading branches, that the 

 size of the majestic tree can be duly estimated ; 

 but when its full proportions are fairly viewed 

 on all sides, it strikes the beholder with feelings 

 of wonder and admiration, alike for its bulk and 

 for the number of centuries which it has been in 

 attaining it. 



It is only within a few years that it has been 

 relieved from the pressure of three walls, in the 

 angle of which it stood, a position which must have 

 greatly injured the spreading of its roots. The 

 axe, which might have been commendably em- 

 ployed in clearing the approach to it of brambles 

 and briers, has, on the contrary, been barbarously, 

 though not recently, applied to the tree itself, 

 which has been wantonly despoiled of several 

 large limbs on the north-east side, apparently 

 many years ago ; it is in consequence much de- 

 cayed on that side, while on the other it is still 

 sound. The Tortworth Chestnut, in 1766 mea- 

 sured fifty feet in circumference, at five feet from 

 the ground. Its present measurement, at the 

 same height, is fifty- two feet. The body is ten feet 

 in height to the fork where it divides into three 

 limbs, one of which, at the period already men- 

 tioned, measured twenty-eight feet and a half 

 in girth, at the distance of five feet from the 

 ^ parent stem. The solid contents, according to 

 the customary method of measuring timber, is 



