Yew Trees in the Garden
As you might imagine, the existence of a Yew Tree Cottage does
not guarantee the presence of a yew in its garden. Surprisingly,
many ‘Yew Tree Cottages’ appear to have no yews that
they are named after; this is particularly noticeable in the
New Forest. Nevertheless, in about
4 out of 5 cases, when I’ve visited a Yew Tree Cottage
I’ve found a yew, or more than one, nearby.
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Bramdean, two Yew Tree Cottages are named after this tree |
Upper Swanmore, by the garden gate |
Of the yews found at Yew Tree Cottages many were mature trees
with large canopies, but their girths rarely exceeded 10'. Whilst
a few were clearly old with noticeable rot, I only found two truly
ancient yews. One of 18'5'' grows in a garden/hedgerow at Upper
Swanmore and the other is a 19'6'' girth tree that has given its
name to two properties, No 1 and 2 Yew Tree Cottages, Bramdean.
Clearly searching for ancient yews at Yew Tree Cottages is not going
to reveal spectacular results if I’ve visited over a hundred
properties and only found 2 genuine ancient trees. But yews can be
significant for other reasons than size and age; they can have other
characteristics to enjoy.
A suburban yew in the pavement at Lee-on-Solent, all neatly turned
out
The Suburban Yew
Searching for mature yew trees in suburbia is an odd experience;
like coming across a friend in a city, unexpected, and curiously
more rewarding than one expects it to be. A few of such suburban
Yew Tree Cottages are old buildings, now surrounded by modern
estates, whilst most are more recent buildings which have been
built close to older trees that predate them. Both make one wonder
about how the locality must have changed during the lifetime
of the tree. Sometimes it seems the tree itself is suburbanised;
clipped and trimmed to be on its best behaviour.
Yew Topiary
King Somborne, Yew Tree House with a ‘7 ringed yew’
One of the most charming discoveries I found during my site
visits was that Yew Tree Cottages would sometimes contain interesting
examples of topiary in their garden. Indeed, since England is
a nation of gardeners, I generally found that owners with yews
in their garden were usually delighted to talk to me about their
garden and their trees. Some have good reason to be proud of
their topiary.
Sadly, at King Somborne, another such 7 ringed yew used to exist
nearby at a Yew Tree Cottage but I was told its owners felled it
in 1979. Why? Because surveyors found that the roots were coming
up in the back garden and might be interfering with the foundations
of the cottage. Yet it is a 16th Century cottage – which
had survived well enough until 1979. A plague on building surveyors
for blaming all such ills on trees.
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