Llanllechid

In 1984 Reg Wheeler recorded an avenue of yews leading from the gate towards the church. He concluded that the four yews, with girths ranging from 124cm to 260cm, were planted between 1888 and 1898. He also recorded a yew standing alone north of the church which had a girth of 395cm at the ground. He described it as follows: ‘the largest and apparently oldest yew in the churchyard is hollow following the usual fungi attack for yews this size. Decayed wood samples gave ring count – 7 samples, range 3.6 to 8.6 per cm average 5.3. Girth 395cm = radius 62.8cm x 5.3. = 333 years of age’. The Google Earth images show the row of yews still in situ next to the graves. Also seen is the large, hollowing yew, whose girth would by now be above 4m.
In The Old Churches of Arllechwedd by Herbert L North (1906) is the following description: “There is an old yew tree once much larger than stood at the south side of the West end of the old church; there used to be another on the North side and they met over the West end of the building. Young boys could climb up the one, cross over the branches and descend by the other.” Without knowing the position of the old removed church it is not possible to tell whether the largest yew is one of these trees.