Chipping Campden

April 2010 – Tim Hills: The Chipping Campden History Society holds details of the precise location of these yews. The largest had the following girths recorded some time around 2005: 12′ 4”, 12′ 4”, 11′ 8”, 11′, 9”. In the garden shown in the first two photographs a pair of female yews grow side by side with a gap of only 1′ between the trunks. These girth 9′ 3” and 9′ 6” and have grown extraordinarily tall. They are of striking appearance, although rather out of place in such a narrow garden. The other yews also present a variety of forms, no doubt depending on how they have been maintained. Some have been regularly cut back and have canopies that looks the right size and shape for the small space. Using girth alone to age these trees, they fall into the range 250/350 years. However we also need to consider the 90+ growth rings counted in one sawn off branch, as well as the possibility that the trees were topiarised in their early years, which is known to lead to smaller girthed trees. A 1603 planting date should therefore not be discounted, and for the moment seems to be the most plausible explanation. 2015: Geoffrey White recorded the yew in the garden of Westcote House as follows: 10′ 10” at 1′, 11′ 1” at 3′, 12′ 4” at 5′ and 13′ 2” at 6′. The trunk of this yew splits into three at a height of about 4′.