In 1801 a county historian already called the Codsall yews very ancient and wondered whether they were as old as the church's 13th-century tower. In 1899 another writer went further, praising Codsall's ancient tower and its more ancient yew tree. Nobody since has put a number on them, and we will not either. There are two, both south-east of St Nicholas church. The larger is a female, 589 centimetres round close to the ground when the Ancient Yew Group measured it in 2003. It is a tree of two distinct sides, each thick with small shoots and twiggy branches. The smaller is a male, 399 centimetres round, and it is what is left of something bigger, a sizeable fragment of the shell of a once larger tree. The church's earliest parts are Norman, so a churchyard has stood here for a very long time. Whether the yews go back that far is the open question. The most recent records we have are photographs from 2005. We believe both trees still stand, but if you visit, tell us what you find. The churchyard is open, a short walk from the centre of Codsall, a village on the railway line north-west of Wolverhampton with its own station.
From people who stood here
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Getting there
St Nicholas churchyard, Church Road, Codsall, Wolverhampton WV8
You can recognise them as the two old yews south-east of the church. The larger, to the east-south-east, is a two-sided mass of twiggy growth; the smaller, to the south-east, is the remaining shell of a once larger tree.
Train from Wolverhampton to Codsall station on the Shrewsbury line, then a short walk to the church.
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.