Another and perhaps the largest pure yew-wood in England is on the downs three miles west of Downton, Wilts, on the property of the Earl of Radnor. It is known as "The Great Yews," and contains about 80 acres. The trees are not remarkable for their size, and appear to have been partly planted, as the largest are at regular intervals and of about the same age. Probably at a time when yew-wood was wanted for bow-making an existing wood was filled up with planted trees, and no doubt these yews could tell some striking tales. Mr. E. P. Squarey, who took me to see them, and who has seen little change in them during the last 60 years, pointed out one under which some tramps had been caught in the act of roasting a sheep they had stolen, and related various tragedies which had occurred in this wild district in bygone times.
"The Little Yews" is the name of another wood about half a mile from the "Great Yews," which, though not of such large extent, contains much finer trees, many being from 8 feet to 10 feet in girth and 50 feet high. As in other yew woods (at any rate where rabbits exist) I found few or no young trees coming up, and the mixture of beech, ash, oak, thorn, whitebeam, and holly trees which are found in the more open spaces all appear to be self-sown. Several of the largest trees have been recently blown down.
After the Midhurst and the Great and Little Yews, I think the Cherkley Court Yew Wood is the best in England; and, thanks to the kindness of A. Dixon, Esq., the owner, I am able to give some particulars of this interesting place, which Lowe thought to be the finest collection of yews in existence.
The wood covers an area of 50 to 60 acres in a shallow valley forming part of the old Ashurst estate, about three miles from Leatherhead in Surrey, on the east side of the old pilgrims' road to Canterbury. It was formerly a rabbit warren, but is now carefully preserved by Mr. Dixon. It is said that 500 yew trees were once sold out of this wood by Mr. Boxall for 10 guineas each, and these two facts will probably account for the fact that there are now scarcely any young trees coming up, and but few trees with straight, tall trunks. Their average height does not exceed about 40 feet, and the majority of them are not well-grown trees, but there are some of great girth, of which the best is called the Queen Yew, and measures 14 feet 6 inches at 1 foot from the ground; then swelling out in a peculiar way and measuring 20 feet 4 inches at about 4 feet. At this height it begins to branch, and though the main stem goes up some way, the whole tree is certainly under 50 feet in height.
One of the most curious trees in this grove, called the Cauliflower Yew, was figured in the Gardeners' Chronicle, and copied in Veitch's Coniferæ, ed. ii. p. 128. This tree has now lost much of its beauty, owing to a heavy snowstorm which occurred in 1884 and which did serious damage to the Cherkley Yew Wood.
Another place of great interest to naturalists, where the yew is in great abundance, is Castle Eden Dene, in Durham, the property of Rowland Burdon, Esq. This locality is renowned among botanists as the last in England where the ladies' slipper orchid (Cypripedium Calceolus) still exists. It is a deep valley about 3 to 4 miles long, running down to the sea, and, in some places, has steep cliffs of a
