38 THE CHURCH OF ST. HELEN'S, DARLEY DALE. 



Canon Atkinson kindly supplies an interesting note relative 

 to Rector Bryan Exton. In the wall of what is now the rectory 

 stable is a small stone tablet inscribed : — " Ne mihi invidens : 

 hsec domus est structa, non mihi, sed musis." Above this puzzling 

 inscription is the date 1607, and below, the initials " B. E." 



It is impossible to bring any notice of the church of Darley 

 Dale to an end without referring to the noble and ancient yew 

 that is the glory of its churchyard. Since I wrote at length 

 about it, after several visits paid in 1875-6, it has suffered 

 much, having lost three considerable branches, including the 

 well-known antler-like summit, seventeen feet of which were 

 twisted off by a tremendous north-west blast in December, 1894. 

 When writing about thirty years ago I claimed the Darley yew 

 as the finest in the kingdom. Since then I have naturally learnt 

 more of yews, and have closely examined them in various parts 

 of England. Every one of the finest examples in Hampshire, 

 the great county for yews, has been measured by me, and I 

 have also carefully studied the long list and the not too careful 

 measurements and accounts of yew trees in Dr. Lowe's work, 

 published in 1897, and I adhere with perfect confidence to the 

 statement that I then penned. There are two, possibly three, 

 yews in England with slightly larger girth measurement, but 

 they are far more of wrecks than the Derbyshire champion, 

 even in its present condition. There are finer yews of a less 

 age with a greater spread of branches, of which the two Hamp- 

 shire examples at Corhampton and Brockenhurst are about the 

 best. But, taking all in all, considering age, size, and com- 

 parative vigour, there is not the least doubt that the Darley 

 yew is facile princeps. 



Readers of this Journal will recollect the admirable critical 

 paper as to this tree's age and history by the late Mr. Greaves, 

 Q.C., in the second volume. Nothing better about it has been 

 written in prose, but in poetry the present gifted rector has sung 

 its praises in his Parish Magazine, and I hope to have his 

 forgiveness for the transference of his stanzas to the more 

 permanent pages of this Journal, where they are sure to give 

 pleasure to a wide circle of those who love their county and its 

 many beauties. 



