The Yattendon Yew
Compiled by Tim Hills
In March 2007 I measured the yew in Yattendon churchyard
to compare it with the girths recorded in 1888. The results were
puzzling until I was shown YATTENDON AND ITS CHURCH With Records
of the Manor and the Village from the 10th Century to the Present Day.1
All of the information below, unless otherwise stated, is from this
book.
1666
The original yew was planted on the south side of the church by Mr
Sayer, the Rector. This information appears in a memorandum “for
the amusement of my Successors” written by the rector,Geo.Bellas,
and found in the church register of 1726-1773.
1770
Geo. Bellas “strained a Line round it one foot-from the ground
and it measured 5 feet, 6 inches, and 2 Barley Corns: it is a fine
growing Tree.”
1797
Geo. Bellas recorded a girth of “6 feet 11 inches and a half—1
foot from the ground.”
1849
J.Flory Howard, rector, reported “the first symptom of
decay” when on March 1st “a very large bough of this Yew
Tree fell down, being nearly one-fourth of the whole Tree.”
1877
A.Loveday, rector in 1877, measured the tree at 18 inches and recorded
a girth of 9 feet.
1886
The weight of heavy snowfall caused a large branch of the Yew to be
broken off in 1886, and “another fell from the same reason
on the 6th January, 1887.” H.C.Beeching, Rector.
1888
“In the churchyard near Newbury, Berks (Nov 14th 1888), is a yew-tree
about 30 feet high, measuring 9 and a half feet in girth at 3 feet from the
ground. The ground is free from shoots to 7 or 8 feet. The branches are large
and well-grown; none were broken away until the spring of last year, when two
large ones were split off by the heavy fall of snow which occurred. It
will be interesting to note the condition of this tree after a lapse of a few
years. The branches all arise from a common point, and are of nearly equal
size.
At present there is no sign of decay, and there are no young shoots
from the trunk. The flutings of the trunk are very prominent,
and can be traced directly to their branches. There is much expansion
of the stem just above the ground, where the circumference is fully
11 feet.” 2
1893
“The largest remaining branch was broken off in a storm on 12 December,
1893. It brushed the window as it fell in which is the picture of the Good
Shepherd, but happily did not break it.” H.C.B.
In the same year H.C.B. planted the yew that can be seen today on
the west side of the south porch. “It came up some four years
since in the garden opposite the
Churchyard belonging to the cottage of Isaac Wise (who has been gardener
to three Rectors here), and therefore it may be presumed a legitimate
descendant of the old tree.”
1900 |
