Arborfield

January 2000 – Tim Hills: Sheila Crowson found the following information in a WI book of 1922: ‘The beautiful old yew in the churchyard is probably a “Consecration Tree” planted when the old Church was consecrated, which would make it over 650 years’. She was speaking of the largest tree, SE of the old church, which could certainly be that sort of age. It was unfortunate that thick ivy stems all round the tree made it impossible to measure. The second photo shows the extent of the ivy in the tree’s canopy in 2008, though Peter Norton’s photos from 2015 show an altogether more accessible tree.
2015 – Peter Norton: The male yew with a girth of 16′ 3” (495cm) at 2′ grows on the south side of the ruin. It has the appearance of having once been larger in girth. Both yews bear all the hallmarks of storm damage to their crowns