242 Vezv- Ti^ees of Great Britain and Ireland 



It is believed that shortly after Wishart's judicial 

 murder at St. Andrews, the plot to revenge his 

 death, the leader in which conspiracy was Norman 

 Leslie of the house of Rothes, was arranged by 

 Leslie and his associates under the old yew-tree 

 of Ormiston. John Knox also used to preach 

 under this venerable yew when he resided at 

 Ormiston in the capacity of tutor or chaplain in 

 the family of the Cockburns of Ormiston, then a 

 leading reforming family.' 



Patter dale. — This remarkable tree, of which an 

 engraving is given, was blown down in 1883, being 

 then, as I am informed by the Rev. G. W. Hall, 

 rector of Patterdale, much decayed. 



The girth at 3 feet from the ground was about 

 16 feet. The bole was about 6 feet in length. 

 Two old parishioners say that one of its large 

 branches used to stretch across the road almost 

 over the Rectory yard, a distance of 80 feet, but 

 it was a failing tree sixty years ago. 



Portbury. — There are two fine trees in the 

 churchyard, which I measured in May 1889. The 

 first of these, near the entrance gate, had a girth 

 of 16 feet 7 inches at 3 feet from the ground. The 

 trunk is hollow. At 9 feet a large root springs 

 from the side and passes down the centre, and 

 another smaller one starts on the opposite side at 

 about 12 feet. Loudon says,^ 'One of these in 



^ Arboyetiim. 



