The War Memorial Chestnut tree
Chestnut tree information plaque
Letter relating to the War Memorial Chestnut tree
News update from the research team
We all know the story of the Chestnut Tree being given to St. Tudy by Julia, the wife of Horatius James Cannan, the soldier that collected the seeds in the midst of a violent attack in the Ypres Salient, and sadly died later on in WW1. However, we have never known how we ended up with one of the six trees that were planted and grew.
Well, we have found a possible answer!
Julia's Grandfather's brother, Edward Balston, became Rural Dean of Derby in 1873. As Archdeacon of Derby, he may well have known of a local lad from within his diocese that was joining the Priest-Hood; one Henry Edwin Eardley who was our Reverend Eardley, of St. Tudy between 1916 – 1926.
The families were in the same social circles in London, and on re-reading the letter that Julia Cannan sent to Reverend Eardley, it seemed that she was writing to an acquaintance, rather than a stranger.
It seems very possible that this the answer to the puzzle of how the tree came to St. Tudy, and we will carry on researching to see if we can confirm this possibility.
Felling the old tree.
2022 Update
Unfortunately the tree grown from a conker from the original one also succumbed to disease and in October 2020 it had to be removed.
Another sapling grown from a conker from the second tree by village resident Joy Armstrong and her sister Kathy Armstrong-Cording was planted in the village centre by them on 26th February 2022.
A video of the planting ceremony can be seen here, with appologies for the wind interferance noise.
