Sandford - on - Thames

November 2011 – Tim Hills: A memorandum in the parish register states: ‘The yew tree in Sandford churchyard was planted on Good Friday in the Year of our Lord God 1800 by John Roberts, Clerk’.
In the church guide by Liz Shatford is the following: ‘It is thought that the planting was on the spot in the south churchyard to mark the position of the old churchyard cross, the stump of which still stands on its worn stone crudely carved base at the foot of the tree’.
J.Buckler drew a view of the church in 1821 which shows the stump of the churchyard cross and a very young yew tree.
Also of note is the yew growing close to the tower and the tree just west of the path. These are seen in photograph 2, and both appear as sapling trees in an early 20th century photograph. The tree closest to the camera girthed about 5′ 6”, while the other, also seen in photograph 3, girthed 9′ 1”. Its larger girth is probably explained by its twin trunks.