The Great Yew of Shugborough
Shugborough, Milford
Approximate location.
You need a ticket to see this treePaid entry. National Trust Shugborough Estate, entry through the Milford Gates only. On a sample date in November 2026 the garden and parkland were open 09:00 to 16:00; check the Trust's page for current hours and prices. Dogs on leads.
The National Trust says Shugborough's garden holds Europe's widest yew, and the way it got wide is the story. This yew grows sideways. A visitor's ticket from 1925 already gave the reason. Its branches bend to the ground, root where they touch and send up fast young shoots, so over the years it has spread into a tangle so dense that, the Ancient Yew Group notes, its main stem is almost impossible to reach. The measurements show the spread. In 1898 a survey gave the crown a circumference of 261 feet. By 1992 it was given as 560 feet, about 171 metres round. The trunk itself is modest by comparison, 373 centimetres round. An 1898 writer guessed the tree was then 250 to 300 years old, and a later source has suggested planting around 1700. We have not seen the evidence for either, so we leave the age open. Widest in Europe is the Trust's claim and the tree's reputation, not the result of a measured contest. It is a female tree, and it stands by the Temple just north of the house, on the north side of the lawn known as The Flat. Shugborough is National Trust land on the edge of Cannock Chase, with paid entry to the park and gardens through the Milford Gates. The Trust still shows it to visitors as one of the garden's sights.
From people who stood here
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Getting there
Shugborough Estate, north of the house by the Temple, Milford, Stafford ST17
You can recognise it as the huge yew that grows sideways in a tangle of rooted branches instead of a single tall trunk. It stands by the Temple just north of the house, on the north side of the lawn called The Flat.
Train to Stafford, then a bus towards Milford; the National Trust gives 10 to 30 minutes by bus from Stafford. From Wolverhampton this is a day out rather than a quick trip.
In fruit
The line is our estimate of how much there is to see, not a measurement. Typical for this species where this tree stands; exact weeks shift with the year.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from. The story was written with AI from these sources, and readers who know the tree correct it.