I heard about this tree so cycled out to see it in the early 1990's. I eventually found it after a few wrong turnings and after braving the nettles on the overgrown path along the Thames. It was a magical tree and place, magical not in the new age/ hobbitish way but in the quiet, sturdy, immovable and ancient manner that trees have. After spending some peaceful moments there in the shade and quiet where time seemed to stop it was back to the path and nettles then cycling in busy traffic through Staines, back to the 20th century, back to a bedsit in Chiswick.
The Ankerwycke Yew at Runnymede, Berkshire, is a 2,000 year old icon. It is said to have witnessed the oathing and sealing of the Magna Carta by King John in June 1215 and to be the location where Henry VIII met Anne Boleyn in the 1530s. This venerable yew (Taxus baccata) grows in the grounds of the ruined Priory of Ankerwycke and now measures an impressive 9.4m (31ft) wide.
(From National Trust Website)
There is an error on this map reference
TQ00305 72481 is a lot nearer
I love this tree & have a pet name for her. (It's a female yew) I call her the Prioress of Ankerwycke because she overlooks the ruins of the old priory and must have seen both its building and its decline!
Sometimes you can find ribbons tied to the tree.....
TQ0030572481 is not the grid ref for this tree.
I was astounded when I visited. Not every day I see a tree which was alive during the time of the Roman Empire. For a 2500 year old tree, it looks old, but nowhere near that old. King Offa's oak nearby looks much older, if I'm honest
I heard about this tree so cycled out to see it in the early 1990's. I eventually found it after a few wrong turnings and after braving the nettles on the overgrown path along the Thames. It was a magical tree and place, magical not in the new age/ hobbitish way but in the quiet, sturdy, immovable and ancient manner that trees have. After spending some peaceful moments there in the shade and quiet where time seemed to stop it was back to the path and nettles then cycling in busy traffic through Staines, back to the 20th century, back to a bedsit in Chiswick.
The Ankerwycke Yew at Runnymede, Berkshire, is a 2,000 year old icon. It is said to have witnessed the oathing and sealing of the Magna Carta by King John in June 1215 and to be the location where Henry VIII met Anne Boleyn in the 1530s. This venerable yew (Taxus baccata) grows in the grounds of the ruined Priory of Ankerwycke and now measures an impressive 9.4m (31ft) wide. (From National Trust Website)
There is an error on this map reference TQ00305 72481 is a lot nearer
I love this tree & have a pet name for her. (It's a female yew) I call her the Prioress of Ankerwycke because she overlooks the ruins of the old priory and must have seen both its building and its decline! Sometimes you can find ribbons tied to the tree.....
TQ0030572481 is not the grid ref for this tree.
I was astounded when I visited. Not every day I see a tree which was alive during the time of the Roman Empire. For a 2500 year old tree, it looks old, but nowhere near that old. King Offa's oak nearby looks much older, if I'm honest