Castle Cary

February 2000 – Tim Hills: The yew grows NE of the church, close to a drop of several feet. It is an unimposing tree with piles of compost, stones, wood and general litter around its base. The shape and dimensions of the tree will alter considerably when decay of some of the dead wood is complete. In 1958 Swanton’s Yew Trees of England recorded a girth of 16′ for the male tree. A section of dead wood close to the railings suggested that this might have once been a larger tree than its current dimensions suggest. Its girth of about 17′ (close to the ground) will be further diminished when dead sections have decayed. Plentiful younger growth gave the tree a green and healthy appearance, in spite of large amounts of gall and brown leaves.