Whittinghame Church is located in an area which saw the establishment of an early medieval religious settlement by monks from Lindisfarne when St Cuthbert – known as the ‘Apostle of the Lothians – was bishop in the 7th century. The present church, built of red sandstone, was built in 1820 supplanting a previous rebuild in 1722.
The churchyard contains 6 yews of note, 5 males and 1 female and the largest has a girth of 272 cm @ 100 cm high (SYTHI 2017). Of the others, girths range between 224 cm – 253 cm, measured at the same height (SYTHI 2017). The girth sizes suggest the yews are probably contemporary with the rebuild of the church in 1820 rather than the one in 1722. The churchyard also contains Irish yews which only became commercially available as cuttings in 1820.