11 4 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 
date. In March 1644 John Evelyn made a note in his 
Diary about planting some trees at his house of Sayes 
Court, Deptford, and adds, “ being the same year that 
the elms were planted by His Majesty in Greenwich 
Park.” The avenues and all the fine sweet chestnuts 
were planted about this time, besides coppices and 
orchards. John Evelyn must have approved of these 
avenues, as in his “Sylva” he praises the chestnut for 
“Avenues to our Country-houses; they are a magnificent 
and royal Ornament.” Their nuts were not appreciated 
in England. “ We give that food to our swine,” Evelyn 
continues, “which is amongst the delicacies of Princes 
in other Countries ; . . . doubtless we might propagate 
their use amongst our common people . . . being a Food 
so cheap and so lasting.” 
A series of terraces sloping down from the tower 
formed part of the design, and their outline can still be 
traced between the Observatory and the Queen’s House, 
which faces the hill at the foot. Each terrace was 40 
yards wide, and on either side Scotch firs were planted 
24 feet apart. These trees were brought by General 
Monk from Scotland in 1664, and until forty years ago 
many were standing, and the line of the avenue was still 
traceable ; some of the trunks measured 4 feet in diameter 
at the ground. Smoke tells so much more on all the 
coniferous tribes than on the deciduous trees, that they 
have all now perished. The last dead stump had to be 
felled some ten years ago. The old Palace was much 
gone to decay when Charles II. began the alterations, 
so he pulled it down with the exception of the Queen’s 
House, the only part said to be in good repair, and 
commenced a vast building designed by Wren, one 
wing of which only was completed in his reign. 
