Shareshill - Sardon Magna

In a 1789 article ‘American Passport’ from Dr.Franklin for Captain Cook (p1187) he says “In a former letter, I said something in priase of our native Oak; the same is now done in favour of the Yew. But, the better to support my remarks, this subject shall be illustrated, with your permission, by a drawing which I have lately made of a curious old Yew-tree now standing in the inclosures of Sardon, in the county of Stafford; of which trees mention has already been made in my topographical account of Sharehill vol LVI p408. This drawing is selected from them as one of the most picturesque.” The picture shows ‘one tree growing within the decayed centre of another which has bushy growth’.
In Arboretum and Fruticetum of 1838 is the following description: ‘A tree at Little Shardon, near Shareshill, in Staffordshire, had, in 1780, a singularly picturesque appearance, and formed one of a vast number of very old and large yew trees’. It has not been possible to locate where these trees once grew.