The Yew Tree Avenue

at Clipsham

The head forester at the Clipsham Estate during the 19th century, Amos Alexander, started a hobby in 1870 creating figures by clipping the yew trees that grew outside his home at the gatehouse. The squire was so impressed that he instructed Amos to cut figures on all of the trees along the carriage drive to his home at Clipsham Hall to depict items of local interest and record family events and so the Yew Tree Avenue was born. 

The clipping was continued by Amos's son Charles and then by a local villager but the avenue became overgrown during World War Two but was restored after the Forestry Commission took over the site in 1955, training staff in the skills of topiary to continue the tradition. New shapes were added, the current ones maintained, and the half-mile long avenue now contains almost 150 clipped yews, some of which are 200 years old. 

The gatehouse and garden at Clipsham

The shapes commemorate historical events or people including an anchor, a windmill, the three bears, a deer, elephant and even a chair where visitors can sit and take a rest. One tree commemorates the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, another the first moon landing by the American astronaut Neil Armstrong, while others honour the present owner of Clipsham Hall Sir David Davenport-Handley, the famous Spitfire from the Battle of Britain, and Amos Alexander himself whose artistry and imagination were responsible for the avenue that visitors enjoy today. 

The trees are clipped in September each year and new designs are added regularly.

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