Wimborne St Giles Yew

This yew first appeared in print in 1884, because Lord Shaftesbury pointed it out. The magazine was The Quiver, and the churchyard sits beside the entrance to St Giles Park. More than 140 years later it is still the tree to look at in this village north of Wimborne Minster. Its shape is what sets it apart. At about eight feet up the trunk divides into six large limbs arranged round a huge central branch. Peter Andrews measured the girth at 721 centimetres at 120 centimetres up in 2006, taken near chest height, where most churchyard yew records are taken much lower. It is a male tree. The Ancient Yew Group puts a yew of this girth in its ancient class, seven metres and over, as an estimate from size. The church beside it was rebuilt in the 18th century. The yew was photographed again in 2026. Do not confuse it with its neighbour. A second male yew grows to the south-east, slim and columnar and about 3.4 metres round. The one you want is the broad one east-south-east of the church.