Lower Basildon

In the Hants and Berks Antiquary and Naturalist of 1890 is the following account from The Hampshire Independent, October 5th 1899: “It is not often that data can be obtained as to the age and growth of trees, but Mr Walter Money, F.S.A., write that the parish registers of Basildon, Berks, contain some interesting memoranda respecting the growth of two yew trees planted in the churchyard by Charles, Lord Fane, in 1726. One of these trees, it is recorded,k was planted on the south side of the church, and the other on the north. In the year 1780, that is, 54 years after planting, the tree on the south side measured 6ft. 3in. In girth. It was again measured in 1796, when the girth had increased to 8ft. 6in. In 1834, or after an interval of 38 years, the dimensions had increased to 8ft. 9in. In 1889, or 163 years after planting, the tree shows a girth of 9ft 10ins.; all the measurements being taken close to the ground. The size of the yew on the north side is not recorded in 1780 or 1796, but in the year 1834, when both trees were measured by the Rev.J.S.Henslow, Professor of Botany in the University of Cambridge, its girth close to the ground was 9ft. 2½ins; and at the present time (1889)it measures, at the same place 9ft 6in. From these figures an idea may be formed of the time required for the yew to attain such a bulk as many of those still standing in Berkshire.”