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Bruera

Nearest town: Chester

Site type: churchyard

Access: Public

Church name: St Mary

Diocese: Chester

County: Cheshire

Country: England

Grid ref: SJ43786054

Lost yew site: Yes

Date visited: 3-Sep-12

Recorded by: Alistair Wrenn

Protection & responsibility: No data

Yews recorded at this site: Notable

Notes: The church is part Norman and was recorded as long ago as 1141. It was heavily modified/restored in 1896. The village of Bruera is almost a lost village and has shrunk from its medieval heydey. Aerial photos reveal that at one point in time there was a moated house and a number of other ground markings, suggesting a number of other cottages have been lost. A total of 18 yews form a ring around the church. They are almost, but not quite, equally spaced and vary in condition and size. Height estimates vary between 11m and 16m. Several have badly died back and a couple look as though they are just hanging on. The photo shows the largest girthed. In 1894 Stephen Richard Glynne's Notes on the churches of Cheshire included the following: 'In the churchyard are 19 very fine yew trees'. The date of the original planting is not known. It is possible that the 18 surviving trees were planted at the same time, but also possible that the smallest girthed were planted at a later date as replacement trees when some from the original planting failed to thrive.