Notes — Ashtead, Basildon 



185 



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SECTIONAL VIEW OF YEW AT ASHTEAD, 

 SURREY. 



Ashtead, Surrey. — In the churchyard there is a 

 fine tree enclosed in an iron fence. I was unable 

 to measure it, but 

 at a rough esti- 

 mate it is about 

 18 feet in girth. 

 There are three 

 good-sized trunks 

 and the remains 

 of an oriofinal 

 trunk partially en- 

 closed by one 

 of the others. 

 These have a 



diameter of about 18 inches. The mode of growth 

 of these trunks is peculiar, giving rise to a very 

 deceptive appearance. It seems at first sight as if 

 there had been a central trunk, which has entirely 

 disappeared. This is not so. The original trunk 

 is the dead one partially enclosed ; the others have 

 grown out from the base, so that there is no actual 

 centre, and it is evidently a compound tree. 



Basildon, Berkshire. — A yew was planted in the 

 churchyard by Charles, Lord Fane, in the year 

 1726, according to the Parish Register, which 

 records the measurements taken in 1780 and 1796, 

 the former giving a girth for the tree to the south 

 of the church, of 6*3 inches in a period of fifty-four 

 years, and the latter 8 feet 6 inches in seventy 



