The Stanmer Churchyard Yew

In a city known for its elms, the oldest tree is a yew, and there are two of them. They grow together on the north side of Stanmer parish church, at the far end of Stanmer Park, and Brighton and Hove City Council names the larger one as the oldest tree in Brighton: 5.94 metres round, classed ancient, estimated at over 500 years. The Ancient Yew Group, who survey these trees for a living, record the same girth and put the companion at 5.64 metres. Local tradition claims a great deal more, calling this one Saxon and a thousand years old or better. Neither the council nor the yew specialists repeat that, and nobody has dated the tree directly, because ancient yews hollow out and take their rings with them. What is documented is how long the pair have been worth remarking on. A drawing in the Burrell Collection from around 1780 shows them, and in 1833 J.D. Parry put two curious old yew-trees in this churchyard into print, which puts them on the record while Stanmer was still a private estate rather than a public park. The churchyard is open, free and quiet, and the two trees are the first thing you meet on the north side of the church.