Venerable yews

It was interesting to read Steve Marshall’s impressively long article on ‘The Immortal Yew’ [ FT330:36-43]. Unfortunately, much of the information given is out of date. I find his sarcastic tone, as in his statement on Ankerwycke that there was no reason for King John to visit the Ankerwycke yew for sealing the Magna Carta, as “he was there for politics, not dendrotourism” flippant and ill-informed. Most historians now agree that the Ankerwycke site was the most logical for the agreement, at the religious sanctuary of the old Priory between Staines and Windsor. This would have been acceptable to both parties as a neutral meeting place.

Marshall states that “a glorious history has been invented for the Ankerwycke”. Certainly the history is glorious, but not invented. “Runnymede,” according to the definitive Concise Oxford English Dictionary of Place Names, “derives its name from the old English ‘council island’ or ‘assembly’.” The Ankerwycke yew stands on an island in the Thames. It needed to be on sufficiently high ground, unlike the area of the present Runnymede, which would have been boggy and open to floods. The Thames has, over the years, changed course and part of its previous channel is still visible. At the time of King John, before 1250, the island in the Thames upon which grows the ancient yew, next to the old Priory, was part of Runnymede.

Jeremy Harte, much quoted in Marshall’s article, was certainly sceptical about the ages of the yew in the 1990s, but over the years has reviewed his ideas and today says: “They are much older than we first thought”.

Marshall says it is “extraordinarily difficult” to date yews accurately, which it is. Hollow yews present many difficulties in ageing, and as Fred Hageneder rightly points out, yews can go through a period of dormancy (i.e. not producing annual rings). Dendrochronology and carbon- dating can sometimes be useful, although they cannot accurately date hollow yews. Forestry expert Reg Wheeler, late of Alice Holt Forestry Research Station, diligently checked ring counts of several hundred old yews and came to the conclusion that some would have to be 2,000 years old. Alan Mitchell, world-renowned ancient tree expert [see his article, “Tricks of the Trees” FT70:55 – Editor], also came to the conclusion after re-measuring many old yews in Hampshire and Surrey, that some of these could indeed be 3,000 years old.

Other tree experts such as Tabbush and White agree and have produced graphs showing the ages can exceed 3,000 years. Allen Meredith’s exponential curve for calculating the age of yews, far from being inaccurate as claimed by Marshall, largely conforms to those of other tree experts and as quoted in The Tree Register Handbook, which is supported by Kew Gardens, “Allen Meredith, whose estimates for the ages of churchyard yews are as well informed as anyone’s, has suggested as much as 5,000 years for those at Fortingall in Perthshire, Discoed in Wales and Llangernwy in Conwy.”

There seems to be a general consensus of expert opinion that yews can live for over 2,000 years. Paul Tabbush and John White of Alice Holt Forestry Research published their findings in the Quarterly Journal of Forestry in 1997. Dr Peter A Thomas, researcher in Plant Ecology, University of Keele, Professor Michail V Pridnya (Socha, Russia) who presented ‘Studies of Taxus baccata in the Caucasus Region’, and Tim Hills of the Ancient Yew Group in “The overlap of ages in the groups Ancient, Veteran and Notable” says: “We at least leave open the possibility that some of our oldest yews might have been growing in the Bronze Age”.

All agree on the great age of yews. Age graphs of the yew by Toby Hindson, Andy Moir, Tabbush and White can be found in The British Ecological Society Journal of Ecology in 2003. Dr David L Protheroe in “Calculation of theoretical age of yews” scientifically worked out ages of yews, demonstrating some were over 2,000 years old. Tabbush and White have even gone as far as 5,000 years. Fred Hageneder in Yew, a History (2007) shows a graph by Toby Hindson and Tabbush and White showing ages of over 3,000 years. Dendrochronologist Andy Moir records a yew of 14ft (4.3m) in girth in the north of England as being approximately 1,500 years old. In terms of the 30ft (9m) girth yews, the 14ft girth yew is just a youngster. Many old yews have not increased their girth in over 200 years, such as Acton Beauchamp (Worcestershire), Totteridge (Hertfordshire), Farningham (Kent), and dozens of others.

It is, however, important to understand that the girth of the yew is not the most important consideration when assessing age, as old yews can lose girth. The Aldworth yew over 350 years ago was 27ft (8m) in girth up until 1976, when it was severely damaged by a storm. The tree has been regularly measured, each decade over the past 300 years. It is now only 13ft (4m) in girth but still lives on. There are many other examples of yews with reduced girths. Old yews heal themselves and carry on.

It has long been known that many churchyard sites occupy pre-Christian burial grounds. The Church has no problem with this. St Augustine, in 597-601, converted many pagan sites to Christianity and in some instances the trees were already there. Bronze Age and Iron Age people were well aware of the cardinal points, and generally speaking, Celtic people planted their yews on burial sites on the Sun’s path, east and west of the mound. The reason many yews were planted on the south, next to the porch, is because it was the Saxons, in the Christian era, who planted yews on the south side of the centre of the burial mound, where churches generally are today.

Early laws (AD 400) forbade people to worship at trees, stones and water sources. However, although stones on sacred burial sites were moved or broken up and wells filled in or covered up, the public had such regard for the trees that the authorities did not pursue their destruction and later laws actually gave protection to the old yews in the churchyards. The earliest law for provision of protection of trees on sacred sites is the letter from Pope Gregory the Great in AD 597/601, instructing Abbot Mellitus to tell Augustine “not to destroy the Fana [sacred grove or sacred tree], only the idols placed in them, so that the people will still come to these familiar sites.”

Sometime later, under the laws of Hywel Dda ( Leges Walliæ 262) in AD 950, yews dedicated to Teilo and Dubricious were protected. In fact under another law of Hywel Dda in the same document, people were punished if they violated the sacred trees. Saint’s yews were considered to be of a higher value than all other trees and there were appropriate fines for injuring such a tree. In 1307, it was proclaimed Ne Rector prosternet arbores in Cemeteris (“The rector is not allowed to destroy the trees in the churchyard”) (Statute 35 of Edward I’s laws, 1307.)

These early laws protecting trees, especially yews, have

never been revoked, which begs the question as to why there are problems today in protecting churchyard yews. The laws also make nonsense of the certificates that have recently flooded Welsh churches, dating yews to a mere 500 or 800 years of age. As shown in my book The God Tree (2012), there are more ancient yews in Wales than in any other country in the world and there is a growing awareness of this fact amongst the Welsh, who are unhappy with the fact that knowledge of the age of yews is being undermined.

Archæologists have discovered evidence of Bronze Age burials and Roman artefacts in churchyards and there are quite a few examples of these pre-Christian sites appropriated by the Church that have ancient yews still growing on them. These include Corhampton, which has a Roman sarcophagus, Gresford (a Roman altar), Uppington (Roman altar found under the yew), Darley Dale (Roman burial urn found), Llanilid (a Roman stone), and Claverly (Roman site with Roman remains). Fortingall has a Neolithic cup and ring marked stone that was discovered 8ft (2.8m) down, below the old yew; and the Defynnog stone carries Celtic carving, Roman writing and a Neolithic cup mark. Alton Priory, Long Sutton, Tangley, Meopham and Sandhurst are all sites where megalithic Sarsen stones have been discovered. Warbleton is on a Neolithic burial mound. Meidrim is a pre-Christian burial site, while Pennant Melangell and Rhulen churchyard are both on Bronze Age burial mounds.

Marshall’s article raises an important question about how we should deal with ancient and historical sites. Are we to deny people access to these places, in case they do damage? Toby Hindson, a member of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids and the Ancient Yew Group, is worried that trophy hunters might damage the Defynnog yew. So far, as the Parish Council agrees, there has been no damage done, and all of the tree’s golden boughs are perfectly intact and growing, despite a much greater number of people visiting the site. (I last visited on 30 July 2015.) It is good to see that there is a growing interest in ancient trees such as the ancient Fortingall yew, which has been treated with similar respect.

Hindson has dated the Linton yew to 4,000 years and yet he questions the 5,000 years I gave to the old yew at Defynnog, as if such an idea were preposterous. Defynnog Parish Council in its pamphlet on the Defynnog yew says “Toby Hindson expresses reservations about the alleged age of the tree”. Other professionals have not. Nonetheless, Hindson regards the Defynnog yew to be of very ancient and international significance and states that “the best evidence we have, official and unofficial, implies that the largest girth yew of the two halves that make up the Defynnog yew might have begun growing during the Iron Age, so it may quite possibly be over 2,000 years old.” Hindson obviously has no problem with pre-Christian yews on church sites.

Before separating into two parts, the Defynnog yew would certainly not have measured 100ft (30m) in girth as suggested by Hindson, and probably not even 50ft – but part of the tree having broken away, the smaller part has done what yews do and completed its trunk by growing new wood and bark around the broken area.

In the quiet and sleepy village of Defynnog, it is not at all surprising that the yew on the north side of the church went unnoticed in recent centuries by the outside world. Wales is full of hidden and forgotten places. Now with the church newly painted in lime white and a proud notice about the ancient yew at its gate, Defynnog has taken on new life, claimed world attention and looks set to become as famous as its male counterpart, the Fortingall yew. Long live the yew! Janis Fry By email