Stoke Poges

Nearest town: Slough

Site type: churchyard

Access: Public

Church name: St Giles

Diocese: Oxford

County: Buckinghamshire

Country: England

Grid ref: SU975827

Lost yew site: Yes

Date visited: No data

Recorded by: Tim Hills

Protection & responsibility: Parochial Church Council

Yews recorded at this site: Ancient 4m-5m, Lost

Notes: Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard in 1751 was penned here in Stoke Poges. 'Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade,/Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap,/Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,/ The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep'. Whether the tree growing on the right of the 1st postcard was the one that provided Gray's shade is questionable, since in 1954 an even older yew grew nearby, described then as 'very decrepit'. That tree is now gone, but could well have been the tree on the left of the photo and close to the church building. It is likely that being so close to the building, branches growing towards the church would have been systematically removed, causing the tree to be hollow on that side - hence the description 'decrepit'. The last image was sent in by Statler Gilfillen. It was bought in an antique shop in 1973. It had been removed from its frame and on the back were the words "The yew tree in the country churchyard at Stoke Poges where Gray wrote his elegy." A sticker on back says "The Gift Shops, 19 West Sixth St. 354 Minnesota St. St. Paul. The best estimate is that the photo dates from 1910-1913.