Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
Yew beauties
They’re entwined with mystery and history. Now a fascinating book reveals where to spot the most splendid of our ancient yew trees
Gna r led, twi s t ed, ancient... no tree has as many myths and legends associated with it as our native yew. Forget the mighty English oak. Yew trees are the oldest living things in the UK – and some are possibly the oldest living things in Europe.
At the Battle of Hastings in 1066, King Harold was killed by an arrow fired from a Norman yew longbow; Magna Carta was signed in 1215, probably under the Ankerwycke yew, now thought to be 2,500 years old; and if the yew in St Luke’s churchyard, at Goostrey, Cheshire, is an odd shape (a living stump with lots of spindly new growth), that’s because it gave its all providing arrows for the Cheshire bowmen who fought in the Battle of Poitiers in 1356.
Less convincingly, legend has it that Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who presided at the trial of Jesus, was born at Fortingall in Perthshire and as a child played under the famous yew in the churchyard – reputedly the oldest tree in Europe, said to be up to 9,000 years old ( but probably 2,000-3,000).
Tony Hall, manager of the arboretum at Kew, says his fascination with yews began on a visit to Devon when he came across a colossal male yew tree in the churchyard at Kenn. He wondered how many other trees in Britain and Ireland were like it and set out to map them. The result is his new book The Immortal Yew, in which he profiles more than 75 yews, each one unique, with interesting stories attached to them. They’re all on publicly accessible land, and he’s given Ordnance Survey grid references so readers can find and admire them.
Many of the yews are found growing in churchyards, although they are often older than even the oldest Christian churches. They were commonly planted in groves to create places for meetings and worship, and they became the sites of early churches. ‘Ancient yews have an air of mystery, even today,’ says Tony. ‘So it is easy to imagine the wonder and fear these trees could conjure up thousands of years ago.’
Yews were associated with longevity and fertility. Druids believed yew wands would banish evil spirits, and the waters from wells near yew trees were thought to have healing powers. Yew wood, which is extremely strong and flexible, was the pre- ferred wood for making longbows. The oldest yew bow found in the UK has been dated to around 2,690BC. So much yew forest was depleted of suitable timber that wood for bows had to be impor ted into England from as early as the 13th century.
Yew responds well to repeated trimming, so is excellent for topiary. Shaping plants was particularly popular with the Elizabethans and you can still see a spectacular 17thcentury display at Levens Hall in Kendal, Cumbria, the world’s oldest topiary garden. Almost as impressive is the 30m-long yew tunnel at Aberglasney Gardens in Carmarthenshire, thought to have been planted as a hedge in the 18th century.
Fossil records show Taxus baccata, the yew species, is at least 15 million years old. However, dating old yews is very difficult. As they age, fungi eat away at their heartwood, causing trees to hollow, usually at around 400 years old, making it impossible to date the tree by counting its annual rings. Even with a solid centre, ring counting is complicated, as the fluted trunks of many older trees are the result of irregular growth patterns in different parts of the tree.
Ancient trees ensure their survival by sending down aerial roots to fill the hollow. They propagate when their lower branches bend to produce new roots where they touch the soil, both stabilising the tree and making young clones. These ‘walking trees’ are more common in woodland than in churchyards where overhanging branches are likely to be lopped.
But the future is uncertain. The shallow roots will not cope well with climate change, says Tony, and many have survived so long because they’re on sacred ground. As congregations dwindle and churches are sold for redevelopment, they could be at risk. Some believe that if their locations are kept secret, trees will be safer. But he disagrees. ‘The more people know about them, the safer they are,’ he says. ‘It’s much easier to get rid of a tree that no one knows is there.’
The Immortal Yew by Tony Hall, Kew Publishing, £25. To order a copy for £20, p&p free, visit mailshop.co.uk/ books or call 0844 571 0640. Offer valid until 15/12/2018.