“Ardchattan Priory whose yew trees (Taxus baccata) according to other accounts, were inspected by Robert the Bruce and cut to make at least some of the longbows used at the Battle of Bannockburn.”
Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness. Vol. 62. 2004, p.3
Ardchattan Priory is a private residence in the hands of Clan Campbell with gardens open to the public. The site was established in 1230 or 1231 for the Valliscaulian Order of monks and ceased to be a monastery in the Reformation of 1560 but a garden has been here for over 700 years. Eight yews are found in parkland between the roadside boundary wall and track to the house. Not all are the same age as five were planted in the mid – nineteenth century according to the residents of the house. Of the other three, one standing nearest the house (noted as Yew H) is the largest and twin stemmed but has suffered considerable canopy thinning due to storm damage and has a girth measurement of 328 cm @ 100 cm, the highest available point below the bifurcation. The origin of the yew is not known to the residents of the house. However, girth measurements suggest a planting period circa 1700 making it too young to belong to the monastic period. Around a rectangular area known as the Monk’s Pond are three yews and three yew stumps and these are nineteenth century plantings.
SYTHI would like to express gratitude to the Tree Register which supported the fieldwork to this site with a Vicky Shilling Bursary.