2 14 Yew- Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



cover almost equal to a thatched roof ; under these 

 trees we are told by tradition the monks resided till 

 they had built the Monastery.' 1 



Evelyn 2 says : ' There are six remarkable trees 

 of this sort now growing on the hill above Foun- 

 tain's Abbey, near Ripon, three of which, in 1770, 

 measured in circumference as below : 



ft. in. ft. in. 



1. 13 O 4. 21 O 



2. 18 o 5. 25 o 



3. 19 o 6. 26 6.' 



Strutt's Plate XXL (A.D. 1823) gives five of these 

 trees as standing ' on a small eminence at Studley 

 Royal, near Ripon, overlooking the ruins of 

 Fountain's Abbey.' 



* One of these trees,' says Loudon, 3 ' is given by 

 Strutt, from which our Fig. 1984 is taken. The 

 tree is upwards of 50 feet high ; and if it existed, 

 and was a large tree previously to 1132, it must, 

 in 1837, be upwards of 800 years old.' 



Haydn 4 says that the largest of these was 

 34 feet 7 inches round the trunk, but no authority is 

 given for the statement, and it is obviously an error. 



De Candolle, speaking probably of the largest 

 of these trees on the hill, says : ' Already known 

 in 1133, it had in 1770, according to Pennant, 

 1214 lines diameter, or more than twelve centuries.' 



Of the six remaining trees which existed in 



i Dr. John Burton, Monast. Ebor., 1758, p. 141. 2 Sylva, p. 267. 



3 Arboretum^ etc., iv. 2073. 4 Diet, of Dates. 



