Lamberhurst

1896 – Pelton’s Illustrated Guide to Tunbridge Wells p216: ‘In the churchyard is a very old yew-tree, twenty-five feet in girth’. This same information is reported to appear in earlier 1876 edition on p163 but has not been verified.
1981 – Allen Meredith: Several stems surround the old tree, my measurement of this tree due to certain difficulties cannot be completely reliable, at 3ft from the ground measured 26ft 8ins (813cm). I understand a Mr Robert Courthorpe measured the tree in January 1955, at 3′ from the ground and found it to be 26ft 8ins.
July 1999 – Tim Hills: The yew has an unusually large number of rising branches, the largest combining outer and internal growth. Decay of a large piece of dead wood at the entrance to the hollow will reduce girth by about 2′ 6″. A girth of 25′ 11” (790cm) was recorded at the ground, allowing tape to ride above roots.
April 2014 – Peter Norton: This large and fragmenting male yew grows near to the south porch. There is much evidence of the flow of new wood over an old dead branch. Minimum girth of 25′ 1” (765cm) at about 6”.
2018 – Luke Steer recorded the tree’s diameter 245cm, giving a circumference of 770cm (25′ 3”).