Wilfred Middlebrook, in The Changing Face Of Warminster, first written in 1960, updated in 1971, noted:
A yew tree on the Salisbury road [between Bishopstrow and Norton Bavant] is said to have given shade or shelter to Oliver Cromwell while he breakfasted there on his way across the downs after the Battle Of Newbury, 1643.
The yew tree, known locally as Cromwell’s Yew, still stands hard by the main Salisbury road just outside the village. It may be tradition but legends die hard in the Wylye Valley. The Jew’s Wall at Longbridge Deverill is an example, with its metal reinforcements to ensure that the wall does not collapse and leave the way open to the fulfilment of the Jew’s curse – that the Thynne family would die out when the wall collapsed! Cromwell’s Yew, hated by farmers as a poisonous menace to cattle, is still given sanctuary in a corner of the field, in a tiny enclosure of barbed wire.