Fig. 72. Crowhurst yew, Surrey. East side of churchyard. 32¾ feet in circumference at a height of 3 feet from the ground. The inside, which was artificially hollowed in the year 1820, contains a table, around which a dozen persons can be seated.
Before taking final leave of individual trees, an example given by Strutt claims passing notice. Strutt cites an original charter which refers to the building of a church at Pérone, or Péronne, in Picardy, in A.D. 684. In this charter, a remarkable clause was inserted, giving instructions for the preservation of a particular yew tree. The writer adds that the tree was in existence in A.D. 1799[992]. If we could be sure that the charter referred to the identical tree which survived till the latter date, we should here have a rival to the veterans of Fortingal and Brabourne.
Fig. 73. Yew on North side of Chipstead church, Surrey. Circumference at 4 feet from the ground: 25 feet. The blocked-up doorway is Transitional Norman (c. A.D. 1175); the arch is round, but is ornamented with the “dog-tooth.” The Northern position of the yew was probably determined by the Northern approach to the church.
It has now been made clear that neither the exaggerated estimates of the earlier school of botanists, nor the under-calculations of recent writers, are quite satisfactory, and that, as of old
