The Chestnut trees that can be seen along the Crawley Down Road are well known and amongst the oldest in Britain. They form one of two rows of Spanish or Sweet Chestnut, (Castanea Sativa), which were probably planted by one of the Evelyns who held most of Felbridge from 1588-1856. There is a tradition in the village, that they were planted to mark the restoration of the monarchy, which was in 1660. It is also possible that they were planted because as the diarist John Evelyn wrote of the chestnut, ‘for avenues to our country houses, they are magnificent and royal ornament’. In this case it would seem appropriate to plant Spanish or Sweet Chestnut on the Estate. However, it seems more likely that Edward Evelyn planted them on the acquisition of the Estate in 1719.

The trees are planted about 20 feet outside the ditch and bank boundary that surrounds what was Warren House Farm, the ditch and banks date back to the enclosure of Felbridge Heath in 1732 to form ‘New Fields’, which formed part of Warren House Farm. The ditch and bank are still visible along about half of the avenues’ length in Crawley Down Road and also behind the Village Hall.

Recent measuring of the distances between the centres of the trees and remaining stumps shows that they were all planted at a pitch of ½ chain (33 feet). This gives us the ability to identify how many trees were originally planted. Using the overall distance from Rowplatt Lane (a Spanish Chestnut was known to stand at the Rowplatt Lane end of the Twitten which has been removed) to South Lodge along the line of this avenue there are 52 tree locations. Using the location of the first Spanish Chestnut along Crawley Down Road, (just before Warren Close), there are also 52 original tree locations in the avenue to South Lodge. Of the original 104 there are now only 42 left standing.

To try to answer the rumour that they were planted to celebrate the restoration of monarchy in 1660 it is necessary to try to identify how old the trees are. The first documented reference to the trees is the Board map of 1748, this clearly shows the two avenues of trees although the North one is only drawn at about half the length that it is now. The Rocque Map of 1768 also shows the two avenues, this time both are shown the same length.

In 1999, we were told of a felled Evelyn chestnut tree that was still lying in the back garden of 11 Crawley Down Road. It had been cut down and moved there in the early 1940’s, pre 1943 for certain, as confirmed by Ann, the daughter of Percy Agate, the owner of the garden. It was believed that the tree had stood near the school on Crawley Down Road. The tree was cut to provide a 1 foot thick slice from near the base. The rings were counted to get an approximate age. 183 definite rings were counted, but it was obvious that some rings had rotted away at the edge and many were too close together to count accurately. The age of the tree, taking into account it was felled pre 1943, shows that it was planted prior to 1760. Given the state of preservation, blurred rings and unknown status of the tree at the time of felling (dead or alive), the tree could have been planted in the early to mid 1700’s.

This is also borne out by a similar exercise carried out by Alec King on another tree that was felled in 1993. In this exercise Alec counted three sets of rings from different areas on the cut butt. The number of rings he identified were 210, 220 and 233 with some indefinite areas and indecipherable ring growth. Working on this basis, and taking the maximum number of rings that he counted, this tree would also have been planted around 1760.

It is also possible to use the girth of the trees to provide an approximation to their age. Arborial sources provide the following estimates, 2.4m approximates to 150years old in avenues of trees, chestnuts are listed as slowing to less than a 2cm a year girth increase within 50 years of planting. The growth is expected to be between 1.2 and 2.5cm a year.

As part of the survey in 2000, the girths of the trees in the two avenues were measured, including the newer infills. Comparisons of girth measurements made in 1933 and those taken in 2000 show that the old trees are now growing at about 1cm/year. The tree felled in 1942/3 and dated to pre 1760 had a girth of 5m, this could be adjusted to 5.5m, if it was still growing today. This can then be compared to the girths of all of the other trees to see if it is bigger or smaller than average. As can be seen from the graph, there is a very large spread of girths from 3m to 6.2m, however the 5.5m would put it in the top 10% of the population implying that there are no trees which are 100 years older than the one counted as they would be approximately 6.5m in girth.

The graph also provides evidence that there were more than one planting of trees. Three trees in the Twitten off Rowplatt Lane are very close in size to each other at 3m girth, these could have been planted about 1850-1900 possibly in place of lost trees as they maintain the 33 foot intervals. The average Girth of all other Spanish Chestnuts is 4.6m, range 3.5-6.2m, this spread could be natural variation as comparison with the Horse Chestnuts known to have been planted in 1965 shows that some of them are double the size of others.

Dendrochronology is really the only method remaining to provide a more accurate planting date. This uses the differences in tree growth caused by different environmental conditions to identify exact years for the growth pattern observed in the tree. At some time in the future it may be possible to obtain a dendro-date. However, it seems most likely from the information available that the chestnut avenues were laid out between 1719 and 1748 when Edward Evelyn owned the estate although a property has stood on the site of Felbridge Place since 1690 to which the avenues could lead. It would appear unlikely that the trees were planted to mark the restoration of the Monarchy in 1661.

Chronology
1904 One tree was cut down next to the school house and a photo was taken, there is still a dip in the playground where the tree stood.
1933 Trees along Copthorne Road were surveyed, at that time they were in land owned by Mrs Chenneck. The school bought one section of the land, Mrs. McIver another and the West end was bought for development. – since then 10 out of the 29 trees surveyed have been cut down.
About 1938 At least six chestnuts were re-planted near the school along the line of the avenue in Crawley Down Road.
1942 A local resident remembers about 10 chestnuts being felled as they were considered to be either dangerous or creating a health hazard due to all the jackdaws nesting in them. Tree ring counting of one of these trees in the 1999 survey provided a planting date of pre 1760. Some of the remaining trees had their hollow tops filled with concrete to prevent jackdaws nesting.
1940-1965 At least six trees were planted along Crawley Down Road avenue line to mark events or people, the WI were also involved in this and Miss. Goble, headmistress of Felbridge School (1959-1971), encouraged pupils to plant chestnuts.
1958-60 Many of the remaining tree stumps were ground out along Crawley Down Road producing mountains of chippings.
1965 Horse chestnuts were planted by Mr. Harry Heard.
Late 1960’s District Council Officials tried to declare that the Chestnuts were unsafe and should all be removed. Ivan Margary and Nancy McIver fought, with others, to successfully overthrow this action.
1970’s The concrete in the top of the trees was removed as it was discovered that it harboured damp and would rot out the centre of the trees.
1983 The Men of Trees wrote an article on the chestnuts and discussed the merits of removing the Horse Chestnuts. They also suggested the generation of a trust to provide funds for maintaining the trees. This was never taken up.
1982 Many of the trees in the wooded area of the school were considered unsafe and considerable work was done on those that were not cut down.
Late 1980’s At least five chestnut trees planted North of school.
1993 School extension was built with one corner chamfered to avoid removal of a Spanish Chestnut, however during the building work it was found that the tree was already dead and therefore it was taken down. Tree ring counting on this tree provided a planting date of pre 1760.

JIC 09/00