Hi, they look like kiwi fruits to me, Actinidia deliciosa, Derek.

Going from what looks like a compound leaf I'd go for a type of chestnut. break one open and see what is in side. if the flesh is green with lots of black seeds then it is kiwi though the leaf looks wrong to me.
if it has a hard brown nut [green becoming brown when ripe] then it is possibly a chestnut.

Thank you both very much. They are definitely not Kiwi, I think they must be chestnut by your description. The tree was bent over with the weight of the 'fruit' in a 14th Century Church yard.

I don't think so - chestnut cases are rather spiney. Could they be medlars?

the leaf and fruit have a similar shape to the common walnut although the fruit is normally green.Break one open, but be careful it can stain your hands,and if you find a walnut inside ,Merry Christmas,kerryvw.

One give away with walnuts is that the leaves are slightly aromatic if crushed. They smell of tangerines !!!!

Not Medlar, they are flattish fruits with a very distinctive patterning on the base. They have a rude name based on that. Dog's........ fill in the blank for yourself.

I thought perhaps the immature fruits might look smooth like that. Ooh Owdboggy, I can't imagine what you mean...:)
If its a walnut you are very lucky. We had a huge walnut tree at school and hardly ever saw any nuts on it at all. Maybe it was too far north.

Walnut leaves are not palmate like this one, they are arranged more like ash leaves. There are several species of chestnut and not all seed cases have spikey outers. the one in the local graveyard is quite smooth.
Do you remember what the flowers were like?

It was white inside and 'foamy' in texture, no fruit in the case yet, unlike some of the nuts etc. it's def not kiwi as my in laws are growing kiwi and it's quite different from walnut as we have walnuts growing in the parks around here.
And I have no idea what Owdboggy means! Hee hee
I may have to go back and photograph the whole tree!
It's quite a mystery hey? Thank you all for helping me try and solve it! Xx :0)

that white spongy pithy material is typical of a chestnut. and several other nut types.

After some head scratching I reckon it’s a Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica). The leaf is a dead ringer for it. It fruits well in a good summer but doesn’t always ripen fully.

loquat have simple leaves . the photo clearly show a compound leaf.

Where did you see it Pita?

It was in a very old churchyard in Wiltshire, in between beech nut trees. There was not nut formed inside, it was white and spongy.

Try writing to the vicar - some of them know lots more than you'd think!

Hee hee, that's funny! I need to solve this mystery hey?

It wasn't meant to be funny though - serious point and worth a try! Yes it needs solving and we all want to know the answer now.

I'll try and find out! Sorry if I offended, your comment make me smile. I'll get back to you as soon as I find out, thank you all for your help.

can you remember what the flowers were like?

It didn't have flowers on it, however it must flower before it fruits shouldn't it? I need to go back to church and look at other parts of tree I guess and also find out if there is a record of it, it's a strange mystery!

Pita of course you didn't offend - nothing further from my mind. I was just thinking abut a vicar I met in a fairly remote country church some weeks ago who knew a tremendous amount of really interesting stuff about the church and the trees in the churchyard.