Watermillock

June 2016 – Toby Hindson: The female yew grows in the west churchyard corner by the gate at the bottom of the side track to the church. It is a strange yew, and has evidently been substantially held back by an enormous beech tree, the rotted stump of which is still extant. There is much burr wood, and the tree has a lean away from the beech stump. The girth in 2016 is 391cm at the root crown. It has apparently increased at c1.2cm per year since Graham Wilkinson measured it in 1997 (368cm), probably as a result of removal of the shade from the beech tree. There is an oil tank under the canopy. A small yew has been planted (c15 years old) on the boundary near it, right by the churchyard gate.