Notes — Ankerivyke i8i 



They contain also a notice of several remarkable 

 trees, the dimensions of which are not sufficiently 

 great to be included in the foregoing list : — 



Ankerwyke, near Staines, on the banks of the 

 Thames, about three miles to the south of Coin- 

 brook, has a yew of great size. Lysons ^ says that 

 the manor belonged to the priory of Ankerwyke, 

 which was founded for Benedictine nuns in the 

 reign of Henry ii. The conventual buildings are 

 described, in the report of the Commissioners in 

 the time of Henry viii., as wholly ruinous. Soon 

 after the dissolution, a mansion was built on the 

 site either by Lord Windsor, to whom the estate 

 had been granted, or by Sir Thomas Smith. Near 

 the house is a large yew-tree, which, in 1806, at 

 6 feet from the ground, measured 30 feet 5 inches 

 in girth. 



'What scenes have passed since first this ancient yew 

 In all the strength of youthful beauty grew ! 

 Here patriot Barons might have musing stood, 

 And plann'd the Charter for their country's good ; 

 And here perhaps from Runnymede retired, 

 The haughty John with secret vengeance fired. 

 Might curse the day which saw his weakness yield 

 Extorted rights from yonder tented field.' - 



Magna Charta was signed within sight of it.^ 



^ M agna Brit., vol. i. p. 68i. "^ Fitzgerald. 



* Johannes Dei Gratia, etc., Rex, etc. 



' Given by our owne hand in the meadow called Kunningsemead or 

 Rynnemeade, between Stanes and Windsore, the xv day of June, in the 

 Eighteenth year of our Reigne ' (a.d. 121 5). 



