Craigends Yew

By the time I was in my early teens we played quite happily in the massive tree at the front by day and had some truly terrifying nights telling the ghost stories about the curse of what dreadful fate would befall everyone if the front door ruin was ever pulled down! A walk round the estate, especially up to the front door in the pitch black of a winter’s night was the ultimate test of bravado in our young minds. I laugh when I think about it now but any time we ever did it, it was always terrifying. Not one of us ever did it alone!
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Like almost all the kids from Linwood in the 60's & 70's we spent most weekends & all our summer holidays either swimming in the Gryffe, playing in the old ruin of the house or the yew tree & grounds, camping out on summer nights in the grounds.
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We used to sit under the Yew tree and tell scary stories about what would happen to Linwood if the Lion's head was ever knocked off.
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Being inside the Yew tree was like being inside a big tent, a private children's world.
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[I remember making] a 'den' under the old Yew tree, only to come back the next day and find it ruined!
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Yew tree was a lot taller than your photographs make it apper, we climbed it .... a lot!
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There was a tremendous Yew tree on the lawn at the front of the house. Its braches had spread out and rerooted where they touched the ground forming an outer circle. Inside it was like a Cathedral with great sweeping boughs and no obvious entrance.
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One of the biggest and oldest yew trees (Taxus baccata) in Scotland, this vast, layering tree sprawls over the banks of the River Gryffe in the Renfrewshire town of Houston.

Large branches radiate from the now shattered and split trunk and take root and layer, enclosing the mother tree in an ever-increasing ring of fresh, healthy growth. The spread of the crown is quite remarkable and this one tree covers a substantial area of ground in its relentless outward progression. The huge trunk, which sits at the centre of the inner sanctum formed by the sombre, surrounding foliage, measures 264cm in diameter at ground level and 27ft 3in in girth. This is second in size only to the Fortingall Yew, although, as is typical with old trees, it is in the advanced stages of decline. Thought to be anywhere between 500 and 1000 years old, this is one tree that looks set to be around for a few more centuries yet by virtue of its layering habit.

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Get in touch

Hello, I'm Michael Hopcroft.

I grew up in Craigends (1982-2001).

Please get in touch if you have any memories, stories or photos of Craigends that you'd be willing to share.

I look forward to hearing from you!