THE HAMPSHIRE 'ANTIQUARY & NATURALIST. 



embodied in the words "large strokes." Apprentices, 

 as several instances that are eiven show, seem to 

 have had a bad time of it. One master was ordered 

 not to correct his apprentice " with sticks or other 

 weapons, and not to stamp upon him with his feet," 

 but to " entreat" him as an apprentice ought 

 to be, and to provide him with four shirts. 

 The contempt shown towards the Mayor at 

 various times is amusing ; for example, in 1718, 

 one James Bye " did in public court humbly acknow- 

 ledge an offence by him lately committed in uttering 

 and speaking scandalous, reproachful, contemptuous, 

 and vilipendious words of and against the right 

 worshipful John Ffoyle, Esq., Mayor of this City, and 

 His Majesty's Clerk of the Market, and of the Jury of 

 the Clerk, and most derogatory to the honour and 

 authority of a Justice of the Peace. He most humbly 

 begged pardon." There are frequent notices of the 

 swearing-in of the Masters and Wardens of the 

 Society of "Taylors" and Hosiers, and the Cord- 

 wainers, and there was also a Society of Carpenters. 

 In 1720 two Stuart partisans were committed to prison 

 for crying out "God bless King James the Third, 

 lawful King of England." There was furious riding 

 in those days, for all " horseler or other person who 

 ride at a gallopp on any horse, gelding, or mare in 

 the streets or lanes," were to be fined 6s. 8d., and 

 this order was published by the Common C^er so 

 that no person should plead ignorance of this " good 

 and wholesome order." 



THE HAMPSHIRE INDEPENDENT, October 5, 



YEW TREES IN HANTS AND BERKS. 

 It is not often that reliable data can be obtained as 

 to the age and growth of trees, but Mr. Walter 

 Money, F.S.A., writes that the parish registers of 

 Basildon, Berks, contain some interesting memoranda 

 respecting the growth of two yew trees planted in 

 the churchyard by Charles, Lord Fane, in 1726. One 

 of these trees, it is recorded, was planted on the 

 south side of the church, and the other on the north. 

 In the year 1780, that is, 54 years after planting, the 

 tree on the south side measured 6ft. 3in. in girth. It 

 was again measured in 1796, when the girth had in- 

 creased to 8ft. 6in. In 1834, or after an interval of 38 

 years, the dimensions had increased to 8ft. gin. In 

 1889, or 163 years after planting, the tree shows a 

 girth of gft. loin. ; all the measurements being taken 

 close to the ground. The size of the yew on the 

 north side is not recorded in 1780 or 1796. but in the 

 year 1834, when both trees were measured by the 

 Rev. J. S. Herislow, Professor of Botany in the Uni- 

 versity of Cambridge, its girth close to the ground was 

 9ft. 2^in. ; and at the present time (1889) it measures 

 at the same place gft. 6iu. From these figures an 

 idea may be formed of the time required for the yew 



to attain such a bulk as many of those still 

 standing in Berkshire. At Aldworth, in this county, 

 so celebrated for the number of rich tombs it contains 

 of the De la Beche family, there is a yew in the 

 churchyard, supposed to be 1,000 years old, which 

 measures 27ft. in circumference. This tree has not 

 increased in bulk since 1760, when its size is recorded 

 in More's " Berkshire Queries " as nine yards in 

 girth ; and it is well known that trees, particularly the 

 yew, cease to increase in size after a certain age. At 

 Bucklebury there is another ancient, time-shattered 

 yew, which also measures nine yards in circumfer- 

 ence near the separation of the branches from the 

 trunk. Still more interesting are a group of venerable 

 yews at Watcombe, a lone farm on the road from 

 Hungerford to Wantage and Oxford the site of a cell 

 or grange, with a church attached, belonging in pre- 

 Reformation days to the Benedictine Monastery of 

 Hurley, to which house it was given by Geoffrey de 

 Mandeville about 1086, and mentioned in the Pipe 

 Rolls as being under the charge of a provost in 1166. 

 These yews are in the shape of a cloister court, and 

 are planted in double rows, forming alleys or covered 

 ways between them, with a pond in the centre. This 

 enclosure has "for time out of mind" been known by 

 the country people as "Paradise," derived probably 

 from the form of the enclosed portion of the forecourt 

 of the basilica, which was called the " Paradise," 

 and from the surrounding porticos the cloister took 

 its origin. The "Sprice" at Chester is a corruption 

 of "Paradise," as it was called at Chichester and 

 Winchester. A sturdy pair of yews, a little to the 

 rear of " Paradise," at Watcombe, are known as 

 "Adam and Eve," and are said to represent, accord- 

 ing to the ancient local legend, our first parentsdriven 

 out of " Paradise " or the garden. Singularly enough, 

 these trees are of the male and female species, one 

 producing berries, and one not, while the foliage of 

 "Adam" is of darker shade than that of his com- 

 panion " Eve." The former measures somewhat over 

 gft. in circumference, and the latter loft. Standing- 

 alone at some distance in the background, farthest 

 removed from "Paradise," is the "Serpent," or 

 " Devil," emblematic, it is said, of the evil influence 

 he exercised in causing the expulsion of Adam and 

 Eve from the garden. This tree, the hollow trunk of 

 which is now nearly reduced to a shell, but carries a 

 flourishing head, measures over 2oft. in circumfer- 

 ence. It has a lateral opening, and five or six persons 

 could comfortably obtain shelter within the central 

 cavity. These notes may probably lead to the publica- 

 tion of similar records, denoting the age and size of 

 other specimens of this gloomy evergreen. The 

 Times, Sept. 24, 1889. 



With reference to the above, Mr. T. W. Shore, of 

 the Hartley Institution, Southampton, writes to us : 

 " The account of the yew trees given by Mr. Walter 

 Money is very interesting, and especially that which 

 relates to the planting, growth and measurement of 



