Garthbrengy - 9 largest yews

1998 and 2011 – Tim Hills: Tree 16 on plan. S of the church and just inside the entrance to the churchyard on the right. The most enigmatic of the yews in this churchyard. The mound may be hiding the original base, and the large section of stump may have been part of the original tree. Including that in the girth recorded in 1998 gave a reading of above 23′. Around the living section only close to the ground a girth of about 19′ was recorded in 1998. What remains today is a single trunk filled with decaying heartwood.
Paul Wood – 2016: I would agree that this has been bigger. It grows on what looks like an elongated mound that might be a long barrow. This yew, along with trees 1 and 2 and the one growing in the SW corner were taking a severe buffeting from the wind at the time of my visit. The hill top location would seem to do the trees no favours. A small amount of twiggy growth has crept onto the bole and ivy was encroaching from the dying stump on the southeast side. A number of young internal stems were visible and some of these are fusing. There is still much dark decaying cubical heartwood in the tree.