166 HISTORICAL NOTICE OF CELEBRATED TREES. [July 



the patrimony of S. Peter, about three miles west of tliat place, for 

 erecting of a monastery. The spot of ground had never been 

 inhabited, unless by wild beasts, being overgrown with wood and 

 brambles, lying between two steep hills and rocks, covered with 

 wood on all sides, more proper for a retreat for wild beasts than for 

 the human species, Eichard, the prior of St. Mary's at York, was 

 chosen abbot by the monks, being the first of this Monastery of 

 Fountains ; with whom they withdrew into this uncouth district, 

 without any house to shelter them in that winter season, or 

 provisions to subsist on, but entirely depending on Divine Provi- 

 dence. There stood a large elm in the midst of the vale, on which 

 they put some thatch or straw, and under that they lay, ate, and 

 prayed, the bishop for a time supplying them with bread, and the 

 rivulet with drink. But it is supposed they soon changed the 

 shelter of their elm for that of seven yew trees growing on the 

 declivity of the hill on the south side of the abbey, all standing at 

 the present time (1658) except the largest, which was blown down 

 about the middle of the last century. They are of an extraordinary 

 size ; the trunk of one of them is 2 6 feet 6 inches in circumference 

 at the height of 3 feet from the ground, and they stand so near each 

 other as to form a cover almost equal to a thatched roof. Under 

 these trees, we are told by tradition, the monks resided till they 

 built the monastery ; which seems to be very probable, if we 

 consider how little a yew tree increases in a year, and to what a 

 bulk these are grown." The largest of these trees was measured by 

 Pennant in 1770, and found to be 26 feet 6 inches — in fact, 

 precisely what Burton says of it in 1658; but Pennant's measure- 

 ments may have been taken higher up. Assuming it as the more 

 correct, we find the diameter to be 1214 lines, or a little more than 

 85 inches. And adopting the rate of increase as proposed, at 1 

 French line each year, this tree is supposed to be about 1280 or 

 1290 years old. The famous yew at Crowhurst in Surrey was in 

 1660, when measured by Evelyn, 33 feet in circumference, and is 

 now (1846) calculated to be about 1475 years old. According to 

 Evelyn, there was another in Braburne churchyard in Kent, which 

 that year (1660) was 58 feet 11 inches in circumference, or 18 feet 

 11^ inches in diameter. Hence, applying the same rule, its age at 

 that time could not be less than 2700 years ; but this tree has long 

 since disappeared. At Sutton, near Winchester, there was such 

 another monster. The Ankerwyke yew, near Staines, a witness of 

 the conference between the English Barons and King John, and in 

 sight of which the Magna Charta was signed, measures 2 7 feet 8 

 inches in circumference, and should therefore be 1100 years old, 

 about the age assigned to it by tradition. The Darly yew, in Derby- 



