C 158 ] 
and pronounced by the furveyor and carpenter then 
prefent to be chefnnt, as are the other timbers. 
Cowded, a very ancient feat in the fame parlfh, 
is intirely of that wood j and Dr. Stukely, in his 
letter to the late Lord Hardwick, read at the Society 
of Antiquaries, and fince publiihed in the Arch^o- 
logia, p. 44. fays, “ the curious roof of the large hall 
“ of the manlion houfe at Lefnes is of chefnut, which 
no doubt was felled in the abbey woods there.” 
In latter times, the feat called Mount Mafcal, in 
the parilh of North Cray, rebuilt by Sir Comport 
bitch, Bart, about lourfcore years lince, the girders 
and large timber of which are, as I am well in- 
formed, of chefnut felled in the woods adjoining. 
And why (hould it not have been iifed in build- 
ings, feeing it is very durable, and grows to a great 
lize ? witnefs the tine trees felled lad fummer, to- 
gether with fome oak and beech, in the park of 
Penlhurd in this county ; poHibly in length of time, 
the charatderidick of the chelnut trees decaying 
Inwardly, might be the reafon of the oaks being 
modly ufed, as the more durable timber j and the 
, former found to turn to better account for under- 
wood and poles; elpecially when hops came into ufe 
in Henry tlte Eighth’s time, and are the bed for that 
purpole. Even oak, by reafon of its fcarcity and 
dearnefs, is now little ufed in publick buildings ; fir- 
timber altogether fupplying its place. 
The chefnut tree yet alive in the court at Tort- 
worth, in Gloucederlhire, fuppofed by Evelyn and 
Bradley to have been planted in the time of King 
John, may poifibly be the olded tree of the kind 
extant in this kingdom ; but is no proof of there 
not 
I 
