Henfield

Sylva Florifera (1823) described ‘a large yew-tree standing in the churchyard at Henfield, in Sussex, whose extending branches cast a thick shade over all the graves in the angle in which it stands. This part of the burial ground is fenced with a holly-hedge, that adds considerably to the gloom of the spot.’
Swanton’s The Yew Trees of England (1958) contained the following: “In 1947 a newspaper recorded that in the churchyard at Henfield, Sussex, there are “just over one hundred yew trees which must be almost a record……Most of them were planted in the late seventies of the last century, but there are two really ancient ones, one of which may well be coeval with the church itself, i.e., 700 years or more.” The newspaper article was misleading and these are young yews.
The tree described is almost certainly the tree growing furthest from the church, almost in the SE corner of the churchyard. It is still a dark spot, but the holly hedge has become tall holly trees.
This male yew (seen in the first 2 photos) consists of 3 trunks above a bole of about 3ft height. A larger girthed male yew (seen in the final photo) also grows on the south perimeter, but gave no impression of being such an aged tree.