Uppington

1851 – Bagshaw’s History and Gazetteer of Shropshire: ‘In the church-yard are two yew trees of immense girth, one of which is completely hollow, and will admit of twelve persons standing within the trunk at the same time; although nothing remains of the trunk at the bottom but a shell, yet the tree shows vigorous signs of life, and the branches cover a large surface of ground.’
1939 – Mee’s A King’s England: A yew tree with a hollow trunk 30 feet round.’
December 1983 – Allen Meredith: At present it is not possible to measure the tree accurately becuse of a great deal of ivy growing around its trunk. The tree is hollow and quite decayed. Girth can be found to be anything from 28½’ near the base to 33 feet upwards at 5 feet from the ground.
June 1999 – Tim Hills: The yew to the SE is completely hollow, an almost complete shell with just one space giving access to the inside. The first two feet of the bole was covered in thick twiggy growth. Ivy appeared to have been treated. Girth: 28′ 4″ (864cm) at the lowest point and 31′ 5″ at 5′.
21st November 2005 – Tim Hills: A site meeting was held to discuss the yew. A small reduction in the length of some of the branches will be carried out. It was requested that a single small branch overhanging the path should be removed because it might get tangled in the brides’ veil. Closer examination revealed it to be that rare phenomenon of a single male branch on a female yew – so it might be left in place.
2007 – Ian Robert Brown: Evidence of new growth on right side of entrance to the interior of this hollow shell. Outer branches seem strong and healthy with good spread of foliage. Heavily laden with fruit. Unfortunately the botanically rare single male branch on this female tree appears to have been cut back.