THE YEW. 109 
Perhaps the oldest tree of this kind on record is 
the “ Fontingall Yew,” which stood in a church-yard 
in Scotland. Its age is unknown, but it is asserted 
that there is strong probability of its having been a 
flourishing tree at the commencement of the Christian 
era. About the year 1790, it measured 56 feet 6 
inches in circumference at the base of the trunk. It 
has since become very much decayed, and, in 1833, 
the entire central part had fallen away, leaving it 
with apparently two trunks which form a sort of arch, 
“through which the funeral processions of the High- 
landers would sometimes pass.’* 
The famous Yews of Fountain WW, 
Abbey in Yorkshire are well known. | WZ 
“The abbey was founded in 1132, \S 
in the midst of a rough piece of Sl 
wood-land, in which grew seven large WY We AW 
Yew-trees. In 1658, these trees <= S= 
were said to be of extraordinary size, SE Ml 
the trunk of one of them being 26 ~ WN 
feet 6 inches in circumference. At 
that time but six were standing, the 
largest having been blown down, and 
they grew so closely together as to form with their 
boughs a cover almost equal to a thatched roof. 
Under this shelter tradition tells us the monks re- 
sided until they had built the monastery.”* 
“The Ankerwyke Yew, near Stains, is supposed 
to be upwards of 1000 years old. Henry VIIL. is 
as Nee eS Ee a a 
* Loudon’s Arboreten, 
The Yew. 
a See 
10 
