Tettenhall Yews

The parish church of Tettenhall burned in 1950 and was rebuilt, keeping only its tower and porch. The three yews on the north side of the churchyard were already called venerable in 1804, so they are older than nearly everything in the building they stand beside. The Ancient Yew Group has measured and described all three. Nearest the church is the biggest, a male whose trunk splits into four, 693 centimetres round at a foot off the ground in 1999. In 1874 the Gardener's Chronicle reported the bulkiest of the three at 24 feet. The middle one, also male, is a burnt-out hollow shell with ivy climbing into its crown, the hollow closing over above head height. The furthest, a female, is a ring of branches round the stump of the original trunk, 681 centimetres at the base. All three showed fire or smoke damage when they were surveyed in 1999. In 1899 a visiting naturalist pronounced the great yew more than 2,000 years old. That was an opinion, not a measurement, and no modern survey has backed it. Nobody has dated these trees properly, so we leave the age open. If you know of a better estimate, tell us. The churchyard is open and free, beside the village green in Tettenhall, a short bus ride west of Wolverhampton city centre. The ground on the north side is steep.