Westleigh

Nearest town: Bideford

Site type: churchyard

Access: Public

Church name: St Peter

Diocese: Exeter

County: Devon

Country: England

Grid ref: SS47242864

Lost yew site: No

Date visited: 7-Apr-09

Recorded by: Barry Saich

Protection & responsibility: Conservation Foundation-North Devon DC

Yews recorded at this site: Ancient 5m-7m

Notes: The first reference to a church in this parish is 1280, though it is thought a church stood at this site long before that date. Across the road from the church is an ancient well. The tree grows at the west end of the churchyard. In 1856 Edward Capern penned this description of the yew in a poem called Lines written in Westleigh churchyard, published in 1856: "O! Tell me, tell me, venerable tree,/Thou with the rifted rind and gnarled trunk,/How cam'st thou in that solemn place to be" Sadly these photos not only reveal an old yew that suffered damage, but also one which is not being helped by allowing ivy to take over the tree.

Site files:

Westleigh-2019.pdf