132 REMARKABLE YEWS. 



events, or with places of worship ; only a few of the most 

 remarkable of these can be noticed here.* 



The Fortingal Yew in Perthshire is supposed to he the oldest in 

 Great Britain ; it is now a mere shell, the only parts remaining 

 being the outermost portion of the old trunk which is 56 feet in 

 girth near the ground. 



In the shrubbery at Kyrle Park, Worcestershire, stands a very old 

 tree split into two parts ; the upright part is 24 feet in girth at five feet 

 from the ground, and the area overspread by its branches is over 

 70 feet in diameter ; the slanting portion is hollow ; the total 

 diameter of umbrage is 65 feet.f 



At Trentham, Staffordshire, are some venerable Yews of almost hoary 

 antiquity. There are twenty-three trees, all of them with two 

 exceptions, still in health and vigour ; the circumference of the trunks 

 at six feet from the ground ranges from 16 to 19 feet. There is a 

 local tradition that there was formerly an ancient Saxon church in 

 close proximity to the trees. 



At Ormiston Hall, in East Lothian, is one of the most beautiful 

 Yews in Scotland. The trunk is nearly 20 feet in circumference 

 at three feet from the ground, and the area overspread by its branches 

 is over 70 feet in diameter. J 



The largest Yew in Ireland is near the College at Maynooth on 

 the estate of the Duke of Leinster ; its massive trunk is 20 feet in 

 circumference at three feet from the ground ; the height of the tree 

 is about 50 feet, and the length of the longest branches up wards of 

 40 feet. This grand old Yew is still in robust health. 



Other very aged trees are, or were quite recently standing in Albury 

 Park near Gkiildford ; -The Vineyard, Hatfield House ; at Cliveden near 

 Maidenhead ; in Penrhyn Park, Bangor ; around Tiiitern in Monmouth- 

 shire ; at Craigends, Renfrewshire ; Yewdale, Coniston ; Brockenhurst, 

 Hants ; Dryburgh Abbey, Berwickshire ; Whittinghame, East Lothian, etc. 



The association of the Yew with religion and places of worship is of 

 very ancient date. Yew boughs were formerly carried in procession on 

 Palm Sunday, and in parts of Ireland Yew trees are sometimes called 

 Palms ; it is still the custom for the peasants to wear in their hats or 

 button-holes, sprays of Yew from Palm Sunday until Easter Day. 

 Many hypotheses have been brought forward explanatory of the cause of 

 the selection of this tree for planting in proximity to churches and 

 abbeys, or, perhaps, it would be more correct to say, the building of 

 churches and abbeys in proximity to large and full-grown Yews ; for it 

 is indisputable that the finest and most venerable trees at present existing 

 in Britain are to be found in churchyards and in the vicinity of old 

 priories and abbeys, but it is by no means certain whether in all cases, 

 or even in the majority of them, the Yews were planted subsequent to 

 the building of the edifice, or the edifice erected near the spot where the 



* For further particulars, the elaborate Avork on the subject by Dr. John Lowe, entitled 

 "The Yew Trees of Great Britain and Ireland," may be consulted. 



t The Yew Trees of Great Britain, p. 225. 



t Id. 240. " Here Wishart the martyr preached to an audience composed of the Laird 

 of Ormiston, his dependents and neighbours, and in desponding strains in harmony with 

 the solemn and funereal aspect of the old yew-tree, addressed his last and parting words 

 to those friends from whom he was so soon to be severed forever." (A.D., 1545.) 



For an opportunity of inspecting this and other supsrb trees in the grounds at 

 Carton I am indebted to the kindness of Lord Frederick Fitzgerald. 



