196 Yew- Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



30 feet 10 inches; and from north to south, 

 48 feet. 



The tree was so planted that the horizontal 

 portions were replaced in their original position 

 and the natural symmetry restored.^ 



Strutt ^ gives the girth of this tree as 24 feet in 

 1822. It is said" to be mentioned in Domesday 

 Book. 



Cherkley Court. — In the grounds of Mr. Abraham 

 Dixon there is a group of yew-trees covering 

 ' 90 to 95 acres/ forming, I believe, part of the old 

 estate of Ashurst, which in 1780 comprised about 

 542 acres, ' mostly a rabbit warren with a great 

 number of yew-trees and pollards. The knots of 

 the yew made fine wood for veneering. Mr. Boxall 

 sold five hundred yews at ten guineas each.' 



This is now, perhaps, the finest collection of yews 

 in existence. The trees are in great measure closely 

 packed in a valley in front of Mr. Dixon's house, 

 so closely, that in the heavy fall of snow which 

 occurred on the 26th and 27th December 1886, 

 and was succeeded by a sharp frost, the trees were 

 covered, it was possible to walk about amongst 

 the trees underneath the snowy canopy. Fourteen 

 large yews were broken down by the weight of snow 

 and a storm of wind which succeeded it. Some 

 of those remaining are of great size and remarkable 



1 Gardener's Chronicle, May i, iSSo, - Sylva Brit. 



^ Notes and Queries, 1880, vol. i. p. 312. 



