The great Yew

There are a number of indications that the site of the Church (St. Andrews) is very old. The Churchyard has a distinct curve to it perhaps following the shape of an underlying moat and ancient meeting-place. Its position is at the junction of the routes to London and Barnet (originally a cross roads but now a T-junction) and we know that such places had a sacred significance in pagan times. An ancient Yew tree reckoned to be between 1,000 and 2,000 years old also stands in the churchyard. Its girth in August 2000 was 25 ft 10 ins. The Yew with its evergreen leaves was a symbol of immortality. In 1999 the Yew was accepted onto the register of the “Great Trees of London.” An old story records the discovery in 1722 of a foundling beneath “the great Yew” who was brought up by the parish. He was apprenticed out at the age of nine or ten but we do not learn of his subsequent fate. (from the websitehttps://www.totteridgechurch.org.uk/)

Thank you to Anthony Fisher