Ankerwyke

Nearest town: Staines

Site type: former religious site

Access: Public

Church name: No Data

Diocese: No Data

County: Berkshire

Country: England

Grid ref: TQ004727

Lost yew site: No

Date visited: 27-Feb-99

Recorded by: Tim Hills

Protection & responsibility: National Trust

Yews recorded at this site: Ancient 7m+

Notes: H.J.C.Blake's 1831 Reminiscences of Eton refers to "a majestic yew tree.......under which, among the old inhabitants of the Hamlet, in contradiction to History, the tradition was, that the celebrated signature of England's liberty, the Magna Carta extorted from King John by the independent Barons, was there signed, by that hitherto tyrannical prince." The yew grows N of priory ruins. It was under threat of felling in the 1990s to make way for a golf course, but the land has since been purchased by the National Trust.