Tatsfield

In 1865 A handbook for travellers in Surrey, Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight by King and Murray recorded that ‘The little church of Tatsfield, on the ridge of the chalk hill, 1 m. N.E., is ancient, and worth a visit, thoug but a plain and humble village church. East of the church is a yew of great size, but of several stems’. In 1880 Straker recorded that the yew grew ENE of the church and had a girth of 16′ 3”. In the 1912 History of the county of Surrey: volume 4 is the following description: ‘The churchyard is entered by a modern lych-gate and has a bare appearance, being separated from the surrounding fields by low hedges and open fences. It contains in its eastern part a yew tree of great age and size subdivided into several stems’. Cornish (1946) recorded it as ‘a yew of great age’. It was lost by the time of Fookes visit in 1994.