Defynnog

August 1998 – Tim Hills: A vast tree, N of the church and the largest girthed.
October 2005 – Tim Hills: A single male branch discovered on this female tree.
2011 Meredith and Fry commissioned tests that confirmed it to be of the same genetic material as the smaller girthed yew growing a few metres away.
2011: Visit by members of the Spanish Yew Group. Alarm was expressed by an ecologist that several wheelbarrow loads of bricks and cement from the building work had been dumped beneath one of the yews. As well as the unnecessary extra weight on the tree’s roots, he was particularly concerned that this included white cement, which has the potential to leach into the soil and raise its pH value. This information was relayed to the vicar in charge of the church, adding the following: ‘we trust that you have the authority to remind the builders of their responsibility to remove all such materials and that the trees will not be allowed to suffer because of this lazy practice’.