Ashbrittle

Nearest town: Tiverton

Site type: churchyard

Access: Public

Church name: St John Baptist

Diocese: Bath and Wells

County: Somerset

Country: England

Grid ref: ST05202134

Lost yew site: No

Date visited: 1-Oct-97

Recorded by: Tim Hills

Protection & responsibility: Parochial Church Council

Yews recorded at this site: Ancient 7m+

Notes: The origins of the remote hilltop village of Ashbrittle go back further than recorded history, but records indicate a church from 1251. The large yew grows on what is thought to be an ancient barrow, which is approximately 1.5m high x 15m across. A few headstones are to be found around its outer edges and just shelter beneath the yew's canopy. During the Victorian rebuild, a 'spring' was discovered directly below the alter, rising up through the foundations, and sited outside the church porch is an octagonal shaft of a medieval cross. Recent surveys have failed to find conclusive evidence for the earliest phases of the church site (notes by Peter Norton). The site of one of the '50 Great British Trees' chosen to celebrate the Queen's jubilee year. The yew grows on a tumulus, SE of the church.

Site files:

Ashbrittle-2020.pdf