232 Yew- Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



having first directed our attention to this most 

 interesting vestige of the oldest forest in Ireland. 

 It is 10 feet high and 9 feet 9 inches in girth ; and 

 its snake-like roots spread far and wide on all sides, 

 crawl into the smallest crevices of the crags, where, 



" Moor'd in the rifted rock, 

 Proof to the tempest's shock," 



it broadly grew, and gaily burgeoned when the 

 world was many centuries younger than it is now. 

 ... It is so hard that it is almost impossible to 

 make an impression upon it with an edged tool, 

 and it is with great difficulty that any portion of it 

 can be hammered off. The outer surface of the 

 lower portion of this tree is covered with sharp 

 prickly projections, apparently the remains of a late 

 superficial vegetation, after the top had withered, 

 and which contrasts forcibly with the beautiful 

 smooth, honest bark that has so long rendered the 

 Irish palm an object of sacred interest, and caused 

 it to be used in the manufacture of our ancient 

 croziers, shrines, and relics.' 



Mamhilad near Pontypool. The yew in the 

 churchyard, as the Rev. Christopher Cook informs 

 me, measured, in 1895, 30*9 at the ground level, 

 and 29*10 inches at 3 feet, so that it has grown not 

 more than 6 inches within the last fifty-nine years ; 

 but this arises, as in the preceding instance, from 

 the fact that most of the growth has taken place 



