Nurstead

A diameter of 270cm is recorded in the Tree Register’s data base, where it is also noted that it ‘Fell in snowstorm 10 years ago’ PCW 1997. A watercolour of 1807 by H.Petrie shows a large tree NE of the church. Is this the yew? When I visited Nurstead in 2000 looking for the yew I was told that it had been felled in ‘controversial circumstances’. A letter dated 1987 states that the yew was ‘badly damaged by fire. It looked very much like a case of vandalism’. The letter goes on to describe a yew that was ‘split at ground level’ into 3 pieces.