Fantastic topiary at Clipsham yew tree avenue - geograph

Clipsham is a small village in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is in the northeast of Rutland, close to the county boundary with

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

. The population of the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

was 120 at the 2001 census increasing to 166 at the 2011 census. The village's name possibly means 'homestead/village of Cylp' or 'hemmed-in land of Cylp'. The village is well known for its

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

quarries. Clipsham stone, part of the Upper Lincolnshire Limestone Formation, can be found in many of Britain's most famous buildings including

King's College Chapel King's College Chapel is the chapel of King's College, Cambridge, King's College in the University of Cambridge. It is considered one of the finest examples of late Perpendicular Gothic English architecture and features the world's largest fan ...

(

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

), the

Examination Schools The Examination Schools of the University of Oxford are located at 75–81 High Street, Oxford, England. The building was designed by Sir Thomas Jackson (1835–1924), who also designed several other University buildings, such as much of Brasen ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

York Minster The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Arch ...

, and in repairs to the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...

. The earliest recorded use of Clipsham stone was for

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original c ...

between 1363 and 1368. The

London Stone London Stone is a historic landmark housed at 111 Cannon Street in the City of London. It is an irregular block of oolitic limestone measuring 53 × 43 × 30 cm (21 × 17 × 12"), the remnant of a once much larger object that had stood ...

is made of it, however, and dates back at least to about 1100. The

topiary Topiary is the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, whether geometric or fanciful. The term also refers to plants w ...

Yew Tree Avenue, once the carriage drive to Clipsham Hall, has been maintained by the

Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also respon ...

. The avenue stretches for , with some 150 shaped yew trees leading towards the Hall, a Grade II* listed mansion set in a landscaped park. Many of the trees are over 200 years old and have been trimmed since the late 19th-century into various shapes depicting birds and animals on the tops and designs in relief on the sides. After 2010,

Forest Enterprise Forestry England is a division of the Forestry Commission, responsible for managing and promoting publicly owned forests in England. It was formed as Forest Enterprise in 1996, before devolving to Forest Enterprise England on 31 March 2003 and ...

could not fund the annual trimming and the trees became overgrown and diseased. The Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue Trust, a registered charity, has signed a 20-year agreement with the Forestry Commission to take over the management of the avenue. St Mary's church is a Grade II* listed building. The

Olive Branch The olive branch is a symbol of peace and victory associated with customs of ancient Greece and connected with supplication to gods and persons in power. It is found in most cultures of the Mediterranean basin and became associated with peace ...

The Olive Branch
Clipsham, UK. is one of the very few pubs to hold a Michelin star and in 2008 was chosen as winner of the Michelin Pub of the Year. Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue - Windmill - geograph

Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue - Windmill - geograph

References

External links

Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue TrustFilm of Clipsham Quarry in 1927
{{authority control Villages in Rutland Civil parishes in Rutland

See also

References

External links