Some of the old Yews in the churchyards and gardens of England have attained a wonderful period of longevity. Gilpin mentions one in the churchyard of Tisbury in Dorsetshire, now standing and in fine foliage, though the trunk is quite hollow, which measures thirty-seven feet in circumference, and the limbs are proportionately large. The tree is entered by a rustic gate; and seventeen persons lately breakfasted in its interior. It is said to have been planted many generations ago by the Arundel family. The famous Yew at Arkenwyke House, which Henry VIII. made his place of meeting with Anna Boleyn when she was there, is supposed to be upwards of a thousand years old; it is forty-nine feet high, twenty-seven in circumference, and the branches extend over an area of two hundred and seven feet. There are, besides these, a great number of other celebrated Yews in England, of immense size and age, which are preserved with the greatest care and veneration.
It is a common saying of the inhabitants of the New Forest in England, says Gilpin, that "a post of Yew will outlast a post of iron. The wood is extremely durable, and being hard and very fine-grained, as well as beautifully variegated with reddish or orange veins, it is much prized for inlaying, veneering, and other similar purposes by the cabinet-makers abroad. Tables made of it are said to be more beautiful than those of mahogany; and the wood of the root to vie in beauty with that of the Citron.
