Holly, Yew and Box 



original plant grew in the garden of J. F. M. 

 Dovaston, Esq., of Westfelton, near Shrewsbury, 

 and for this reason was given the common names 

 of "Dovaston Yew" and "Westfelton Yew." 

 London gives the history of the origin of the 

 variety, and it is worth repeating. He says : 

 " The Westfelton Yew stands in the grounds of 

 J. F. M. Dovaston, Esq., of Westfelton, near 

 Shrewsbury, and the following account has been 

 sent to us by that gentleman : * About 60 years 

 ago (now nearly 130), my father, John Dovaston, 

 a man without education, but of unwearied in- 

 dustry and ingenuity, had, with his own hands, 

 sunk a well and constructed and placed a pump 

 in it, and the soil being light and sandy it con- 

 stantly fell in. He secured it with wooden 

 boards, but, perceiving their speedy decay, he 

 planted near the well a Yew tree, which he 

 bought of a cobbler for sixpence, rightly judging 

 that the fibrous and matting tendency of the 

 Yew roots would hold up the soil. They did so, 

 and, independently of its utility, the Yew grew 

 into a tree of extraordinary and striking beauty, 

 spreading horizontally all round, with a single 

 aspiring leader to a great height, each branch 

 in every direction dangling in tressy verdure 

 downwards, the lowest ones to the very ground, 

 pendulous and playful as the most graceful Birch 

 or Willow, and visibly obedient to the feeblest 

 breath of air. Though a male tree, it has one 



196 



