Rycote Chapel

October 1999 – Tim Hills: SSW of the church. A massive clean bole maintains a large girth for a considerable height. The old bole is mostly covered with secondary stems growing up the outside. There is a single female branch on this male yew. Approximate girth was 25′ (762cm) at both 1′ and 3′ and 24′ 1” (734cm) at 6′.
2005 – Greg Howes: The tree is in good shape, some branch hollows.
June 2013 – Peter Norton: This large male is the only yew at this site, growing at the SW corner of the building. It is reputed to have been planted in 1135 to celebrate the coronation of King Stephen when an earlier Benedictine chapel built in 1100 existed. The tree’s vast bole is obviously hollow right through the central stem and there is much evidence of white wood on both the north and south sides of the tree, although fresh growth is starting to obscure these first stages of fragmenting. Chicken wire has been placed in many of the cavities, though I could see no reason for this. The tree had been recently lightly pruned to maintain its shape and new light green shoots could be seen. Girth was 24′ 10” (757cm) at about 1′ 6” from the ground, side nearest the church.
October 2016 – David Alderman: I noticed a female branch on what is generally a male tree. The branch was one of several that were pruned back a few years ago to retain shape, but this was the only one of these where arils could be found.