Clunbury - Twitchen Road

1988 Margaret Williams: Girths of 12′ 9” (389cm) at 3′ ; 12′ 7” (384cm) at 4′ and 12′ 2” (371cm) at 4′. With this information Margaret Williams was sent a certificate giving the yew an estimated age of 350 years.

2017 Paul Wood: This is a most unusual looking yew, home to many arils and with deep green foliage. At first glance there are no limbs of any great age but closer inspection reveals a tree with a complex history. It is about 6′ above the current road surface on a bank, but I felt this bank has buried at least a metre of the yew’s bole and its true root system is down near the level of the present road surface. The tree is hollow and even some of the larger secondary limbs are white wood . It seemed evident that this tree was once cut back to just a large stump and was perhaps all but buried when the garden was landscaped or when the house was built. The property was locked up and the drive gates padlocked so there was no access to the tree. It seemed obvious that what is visible today is perhaps 40/50 years old and was of a totally different colour from the much gnarled four feet bottom hollow part of the yew. I estimated girth at the ground of perhaps 13’/14′ but the true size at the road level would be considerably larger. The yew is visible from the road but close inspection would need permission to access to the property, as the bottom of the tree is at over six feet behind a wall.