Thanks all - it's another labour of love keeping this old chap in check!
Some more pics below, taken just now...
The circumference at chest level is about 8' 0"(2.500m in new money), and the spread of the branches at it's widest, is well over 50'0". One pic shows where it's been allowed to grow towards the church, and where we've had to cut some back over the years (as did the previous owners for around the 900 years it's been there)! Yew wood doesn't really have a grain, just a tight-knit mix of colour, steel-hard knots and a passion for being made into beautiful objects. There have been quite a few pieces made from this chap, and I know a few more will be one day, as a friend has taken a bough which blew down a year or so ago, but because it dries out at around an inch a year, it'll take quite some time to mature for turning! I use wind-falls for tool handles - they last forever!
The age is 'substantiated' by local historians, as the original church was probably built around 1100 AD, and it was tradition to plant a yew somewhere as well! We all know that the branches were great for longbows, which would have been useful around then, what with William the Conqueror popping over and getting in the way, and a few of our lads deciding to try and do something about him...
The top of the tree blew off when the church was bombed in 1944, hence the odd shape, and even these days, several boughs have been damaged here and there by high winds. Our plants and shrubs against the wall, have to bend Eastwards to get going too!