Courson

In Arcisse de Caumont’s 1857 Statistique monumental du Calvados, vol 3, on page 141 is the following description: ‘By the porch, on the north side, stands a beautiful yew, of which the stem has a diameter of about 5 feet’. The French foot – the Pied du Roi – was 32.48 cm long, almost 13”. The diameter is therefore about 1.65 m, which converts to a circumference of about 5.18 m. We do not know the height of the measurement. The yew is also noted in Les vieux arbres de la Normandie – Henri Gadeau de Kerville 1894. Today we see a tall yew with a fine fluted bole. It appears to be solid but small gaps reveal that the inside is decaying and supporting internal growth. Girth in 2000 was 6.15 m at 150 cm.