Westleigh

April 2009 – Barry Saich: This tree would by now have a bole in excess of twenty feet, but sadly due to what I can only determine as neglect, it is only a shadow of what it should be. Many years ago this tree would have had the typical Yew characteristics of a double, even treble or more trunks, but possibly due to storm damage, one or more of these was felled at ground level. This/these trunks have been left to lie on the ground, but fortunately vertical growth of more then several years has taken place, interspersed with Elder saplings and excessive Ivy growth, which extends to the crown, and lack of general pruning maintenance to the sideshoots of the tree itself. Girth of its standing trunk is 320cm or 10ft 6in at ground level on the high side.