Upper Clatford

In 2011 Peter Norton recorded this unusual and enigmatic yew, consisting of four new stems growing from a piece of old trunk. Its girth was about 11′ (335cm) at 2′. However the recent discovery of an 1886 account informs us that this was once a more formidable and possibly ancient specimen. The Hampshire Antiquary and Naturalist (1886) contains the following report: “In Upper Clatford churchyard there is a fine old yew tree, with 13 separate trunks, all undoubtedly growing from the old shell. This place was visited by the Hampshire Field Club on August 19, 1886, and at that meeting (reported in the Hampshire Independent, August 21, 1886) Mr. T. W. Shore referred to that tree as an evidence of the practical immortality of the yew. As the old tree decayed the young grew and flourished.”