It has been romantically recalled [in folklore] that Lord Darnley and Mary Queen of Scots were betrothed under an ancient yew tree in the grounds of Crookston Castle, Renfrewshire. This yew tree was felled in 1819.
On the 4th April 1777 Rabbie Burns carved his name on the Crookston Yew tree:
A young Walter Scott visited Crookston and took away a branch of the Yew tree. He had this wonderful, but unrealised idea, to make a Chess set out of ancient pieces of historic timber:
In 1931, Crookston Castle became the first property acquired by the National Trust for Scotland, having been presented by Sir John Maxwell Stirling-Maxwell of Keir.