Riddell House, Scottish Borders

Two yews stand overlooking a field near to the ruins of Riddell House, a mansion which was burnt down in 1943. The mansion was originally a peel tower built in the early sixteenth century and was adapted and added to in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. The larger of the two yews stands nearest to the ruins and is a bulbous trunked female and remarkable in appearance. It had a girth of 774 cm at the root crown and the other, a male, measured 500 cm girth at 100 cm high (SYTHI 2019). Both yews are storm damaged and have had limbs removed due to that and rotting branches. Based on girth measurements it seems reasonable to suggest the yews are a pair of plantings between 400 – 500 years old. The estate belonged to the Riddell’s from the twelfth century and remained in their hands until the nineteenth century when bought by the Sprot family and more yew planting then took place on the estate.