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Railford Botton Whatley - Notable yews

Nearest town: Frome

Site type: woodland

Access: Public

Church name: No Data

Diocese:

County: Somerset

Country: England

Grid ref: ST7295347689

Lost yew site: Yes

Date visited: 1-Aug-13

Recorded by: Peter Norton

Protection & responsibility: No data

Yews recorded at this site: Notable

Notes: The site overlooks Whatley Quarry, one of the largest in England, found at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills. The rock is Carboniferous Limestone overlain by thin soil. In his Gazetteer in The Sacred Yew (1994) Allen Meredith described 'a yew grove of about 100 trees, pollarded to 3ft from ground about 600 years ago, threatened by nearby quarrying'. It is not known whether these yews at Railford Bottom are all that remain, or whether there are further discoveries still to be made. This is undoubtedly a rare and exceptional site and it is hoped that these trees will not be threatened by quarry expansion.