The famous author Robert Louis Stevenson lived with his grandfather at Colinton Manse during part of his childhood. Whilst there he played under a yew tree to be seen today and even has the remains of part of his swing on the branches.
Stevenson later wrote of this yew as being “one of the glories of the village” and in a poem called “To Minnie” from A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885) he writes:
“Below the yew – it is still there –
Our phantom voices haunt the air
As we were still at play,
And I can hear them call and say
‘How far is it to Babylon?’ “
The yew has lost almost all of its branches on one side due to a modern building development right next to it, but nevertheless is in fine condition. It was noted in Kirk Session minutes as long ago as 1638 and well before Stevenson’s lifetime. At the very least it is 400 years old and more likely to be 500 or perhaps more, if noted in 1638. A girth of 385 cm was recorded at 100 cm high (SYTHI 2017).
It is not the only yew at the manse as another stands across the garden from the famous yew but further investigation of that yew needs to be carried out. If evidence supports it is of a similar age then no doubt Robert Stevenson would have played under it as well, though perhaps not on a swing.
