In Warminster And District Archive magazine, No.3, Summer 1989, Danny Howell writes:
Cromwell’s Yew, Norton Bavant
Situated adjacent the B3414 (the old A36) Warminster – Heytesbury road, on the south side of the highway, approximately 1¾ miles east of Warminster Town Hall, is a yew tree (ST902439). It stands nearly opposite the turning for Middleton Farm and is just east of the appropriately named Yew Tree Cottages, Bishopstrow. Although Bishopstrow often claims it as its own, the tree is, in fact, in Norton Bavant because the parish boundary between Bishopstrow and Norton Bavant runs immediately west of the tree, between it and the cottages.
The tree has been known locally for many years as Cromwell’s Yew and has some conflicting folklore associated with it. Some guide books and historians (including Warminster’s own Victor Manley in the 1920s) have noted that the tree is so named because Oliver Cromwell ate his breakfast in the shade of it soon after his defeat at Roundaway. The Battle of Roundway Down, near Devizes, was fought on 13th July 1643. The Parliamentary Army at Roundway was under Sir William Waller, who was the commander of the force in the West of England. At that time Oliver Cromwell was only a Colonel and not as important as he later became, and more to the point, he was not present at the Battle of Roundway Down. Throughout 1643 he was elsewhere, mainly in the eastern counties – on 14th March 1643 he suppressed a rising at Lowestoft, in early April he disarmed the Huntingdonshire Royalists, on 28th April he took Crowland, on 13th May he defeated the Royalists at Grantham, and before the end of May was at Nottingham. He recaptured Stanford in July and took a leading part in the Battle of Gainsborough (28th July). He later led at the victory of Winceby on 11th October . It is therefore most unlikely that he was ever in the Norton Bavant area in 1643!
Other historians note that Cromwell did have his breakfast under the yew tree near Norton Bavant, but beg to differ on the date, saying it was after the Battle of Newbury. Cromwell was certainly present at the Second Battle of Newbury on 26th October 1644, when he was one of the commanders of the division sentto storm Prince Maurice’s entrenchments at Speen. Perhaps he came Norton Bavant way afterwards, but again it seems unlikely. He was, however, later at Devizes (18 miles distant from Norton Bavant) and Salisbury (19 miles). He visited Salisbury, we are led to believe, on 17th October 1646. It seems more likely that if he was ever at the Norton yew, that it would have been nearer this time. Without any hard evidence it is difficult to prove but most folk legends and myths have an element of truth in them.
Another yarn associated with the tree tells of how fairies have been seen dancing around it at night. As with most folklore, there is a footnote to this story: should anyone harm the tree the fairy spirits will seek their due and unforgetful recompense! Needless to say, for many years, locals have refused to have the tree cut down or tampered with, and up until the Second World War it was fenced off with some railings (probably to stop cattle from eating its poisonous leaves, seeds and bark). The ironwork was probably removed as scrap for the ammunitions drive of the War. Today, a broken-down barbed wire fence provides some useless protection against animals straying near the tree. The yew stands in the north-west corner of a field currently in use for arable crops (part of Sir John Jardine Patterson’s South Farm, Norton Bavant).
The April 1988 issue of Country Living, a national magazine, featured an article about yew trees and asked readers to submit details about yews in their areas as part of a nationwide survey. Six questions were asked: location and grid reference of tree; name of church if the yew tree was in a churchyard; and the position of the tree in relation to the church, i.e. north, south, east or west; details of ancient burial mounds, barrows or other archaeological site within 200 metres of the tree; legends, local folk stories or historical fact relating to the tree including measurements made in the past; and the girth of the tree measured at three feet above ground level. It was also asked that readers enclose photographs of the yew trees to accompany the information.
The details were requested by the Conservation Foundation/Country Living Yew Tree Campaign, at 11a West Halkin Street, London, SW1X 8JL. The data was to augment their lists and select perfect trees for further study and radiocarbon dating. In return for the information the Foundation would estimate the age of the trees and send participants a Country Living yew tree certificate, signed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Alan Meredith (editor of Country Living), David Bellamy (the conservationist), and Robert Hardy (the actor, who is also an expert on the longbow, which is traditionally made of yew – he has written a book on the subject).
I decided to submit details for Cromwell’s Yew at Norton Bavant (and also for the yew trees in Bishopstrow Churchyard but that’s another story), and enclosed the information referred to earlier in this article. I was able to add that there is a small circular “henge” earthwork, an Iron Age farmstead site near Bishopstrow Farm, in a nearby field, approximately 200 metres north-west of the yew tree. I was not aware of any measurements made of the tree in the past, but on my visit to it on 3rd May 1988 I recorded the girth of the tree as 11ft. 0in. at three feet above ground level, and 11ft. 8in. at four feet above ground level (the latter measurement including bushy side growths from the trunk).
The response to the campaign was overwhelming, say the organisers, and the Conservation Foundation received so much worthwhile information, that they decided to release it in book form in the near future. A national publisher has already shown interest in the project, and it seems likely that Cromwell’s Yew at Norton Bavant will be included in the book.
In due course I received a certificate, as promised, for Cromwell’s Yew which estimated the age of it as 360 years. This suggests that the tree has been in existence from 1628, and would have been about 18 years old at the time Oliver Cromwell was supposedly visiting Salisbury. So, it would have been something of a small tree, if, and I stress if, Cromwell ever had his breakfast in the shade of it. Folklore obviously changes in the telling over the years but I, personally, would like to think that there is some truth in the story because Oliver Cromwell is on my list of heroes!