La Bloutiere

The yew grows SW of the church. In 2000 Tim Hills recorded 23′ 7” at 5′ and 35′ 6” at the ground. In 2013 Wim Peeters noted that the tree’s curiously formed bole had the same shape in 1847 (see latest information), and that it has been filled with earth to the height of 1m above the level of the ground. It is unclear whether this was a large hollow in the trunk that was filled by man, or whether the roots have grown over a pre-existing pile of earth. Also noted were the smaller twigs at the bottom of the bole that have been trimmed like a hedge, and that the top and side branches of the tree have a very twiggy appearance with only a few leaves. In the past a lot of lower branches have been cut. The yew was described in Avranchin Monumental et Historique (1847) as an ‘antique yew tree, broadening at the base, and looking like an enormous bulbous bottle with an elongated neck’. On the Villedieu-les-Poeles website the proportions of its trunk are described as impressive, also that it seems to be growing on an ancient mound. Its circumference is given as 8.30m, its height as 12 metres, and the maximum diameter of its crown as 14 metres.