The tree had been grown from a seedling taken from the ancient Tortworth Chestnut in South Gloucestershire. The exact age of this chestnut tree is unknown but various accounts record the tree growing in the 12th and 13th century, making it over 800 years old. In 1825, this remarkable tree was part of the Tortworth Estate which was managed by the Ducie family. While there was no direct familial connection between the Ducies and the Lansdownes it seems likely that as prominent Whig party supporters, they moved in similar political circles and through this friendship the seedling came to be planted by Louisa Lansdowne at Bowood.
Louisa, née Fox-Strangways, was the fifth daughter of the 2nd Earl and Countess of Ilchester. She was an amateur artist and in later life Principal Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria.
This was not the first Sweet Chestnut to be planted at Bowood or ‘King’s Bowood’ as it was originally known. From Saxon times this area, which was part of the Royal Forest of Chippenham, was densely forested. It served as a hunting ground for the monarch of the day. Other royal forests included the New Forest, Epping Forest, Sherwood Forest and the Forest of Dean. During the 17th century the royal hunting forests fell into a period of decline and were increasingly managed for timber production for naval and construction purposes. This led to the lease and eventual break up of many of the Royal Forests, as with the Forest of Chippenham. Interestingly the lease agreement for the land at Bowood required the leaseholder to plant ten oaks a year.
This practice of planting was continued and extended after Bowood was acquired by the Lansdowne family in 1754. Most notably by Capability Brown, landscape architect, in the 1760s and 1770s. Specific species he planted included English Oak, Beech, Sweet Chestnut, Common Lime and Cedar of Lebanon. Four of his original Sweet Chestnut plantings along with Louisa Lansdowne’s tree, planted in 1825, are still thriving and giving visitors at Bowood immense pleasure due to their beautiful, twisted trunks, serrated leaves and during the autumn spiky green husks that enclose shiny edible chestnuts.
