Sacred yews are still going strong (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Sacred yews are still going strong

11:51am Friday 6th November 2009

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WHICH came first, the yew tree or the church? This question is prompted by a more common question that asks: why are there so many yew trees in British churchyards?

First, a look at the tree itself.

The yew is a fascinating plant that has been flourishing in this country for thousands of years. It is slow-growing and evergreen, while individual trees can reach a great age, sometimes thousands of years. However, when we examine those around our churches, it is difficult to determine or even estimate their age and sometimes we can only rely on the histories of the churches to determine how long the trees have been there.

In some cases there are magnificent avenues of yew, and in others there may be only a single tree.

In this country, we have several yews with claims to a great age. Perhaps the grand-daddy of them all is the renowned tree at Fortingall in Scotland.

There are several estimates of its age and they range from around 9,000 years to a more modest 1,500 years. One of its claims is that the infant Julius Caesar played beneath its branches before going off to Rome – the story says his father was a Roman soldier on duty in Scotland and his mother was a local Scottish girl. It’s a good story but lacking in proof. If this yew is only 1,500 years old, it rules out the legend of Julius Caesar.

Some years ago, Derbyshire County Council made a grant of £82 to effect repairs to an ancient yew in Darley Dale churchyard near Matlock. At the time, this tree was thought to be the oldest yew in England, being some 2,200 years of age, while many of our country houses have yews that are several centuries old.

I am sure there are countless other yews around Britain with impressive claims of longevity – for example, a few years ago there was a project to protect yew trees by taking cuttings and cultivating them.

Reports said that the cuttings had been taken from 45 trees, all of which were more than 2,000 years old. Similarly, lots of young yews were planted to celebrate the millennium – they’ll probably survive until 2100.

It is quite possible, therefore, that the yews were growing on sites later used for the construction of churches – in other words, the yews were there before the churches.

This is very likely because the pagans regarded the yew as sacred and used them in many of their religious ceremonies.

It is known that groves of yews were planted especially for use in their festivities, the main reason being that the yew is evergreen.

In the pagan world, this symbolised eternal life but the tree also had many practical uses.

It provided shelter beneath its thick foliage and its wood was used for making weapons and tools. It represented strength and fortitude and some believed it inspired men to achieve brave acts because it was so strong, durable and sturdy.

As one of the few evergreens in England at that time, it was considered almost magical and holy. Quite often, pagans would plant yew trees near the graves of their forebears so that the growing tree would keep the spirits of the dead away from the living. The holly enjoyed a similar status but was not so good at providing shelter.

It follows that our pagan ancestors held their most important functions around yew trees, often planting them on hilltops where they held their religious ceremonies. The trees were well-tended and worshipped and so, when Christianity came to this country, it was logical the churches would be built on those same earlier sites, many on hill tops. It was in this way, therefore, that Christian churches and yew trees became so closely associated, despite the tree’s pagan associations.

The yew will tolerate many kinds of pollution and is able to flourish beneath the shelter of taller trees, although very little will grow beneath its own branches. The bark is poisonous, and so is cut or fallen foliage, although there are reports of cattle and horses eating living leaves from the trees, apparently without harm.

Likewise, the scarlet berries are harmless, but their seeds are poisonous. When a bird eats a yew berry it will enjoy the pink flesh, but the whole seed will pass through the bird, hopefully to result in another baby yew that will live for thousands of years.

WE HAVE a new visitor to our garden pond.

While cleaning out some of the fallen leaves, my wife disturbed something hiding in shallow water beneath the overhang of a stone. It darted off into deeper areas but my wife was able to identify it as a newt.

We have no idea how long it has been living there, nor do we know if there are others.

Our subsequent searches have proved fruitless and we’ve not even spotted our current guest. He seems to have gone deep under cover or else departed.

I have little doubt it was a common newt, the most plentiful of our species that is sometimes called a smooth newt. Its brown colours made it almost invisible among the plant life and stones in the water, and I am sure it was not the highly protected great crested newt or the palmate newt that is rare in our part of England.

So why was it living in our pond?

The common newt is found throughout the country and it lives on dry land, hiding by day and emerging under cover of darkness to find food.

During the winter, it hibernates in small holes in walls or under secure stones, and then in spring, probably as early as February or even as late as June, it will emerge to find water.

This is where newts breed.

They prefer shallow water and the edges of garden ponds are often ideal.

They like a lot of water-plants around them to provide shelter and it is there the newt will find a partner and breed. How they manage to find a partner is something of a mystery, but in that pond or small patch of water they will produce their young.

These look like tadpoles and quickly develop a pair of front legs by which they move around the pond. These youngsters are not easy to see in the water; they are only about an inch and a half long (40mm) and will try to remain concealed as long as they are able so as to avoid predators.

And then in autumn, they will leave the pond to make their way across dry land to a suitable place of shelter, finding sufficient food to enable them to hibernate until the coming spring. By this time, the newt may be up to four inches long, and so the whole cycle starts again.

My wife noticed our newt in early October so I suspect he or she was about to leave the pond to hibernate until spring. Whether or not we shall see him or her again is doubtful, but this small experience does highlight the variety of wild life that can be attracted by a small pond.

IN recent months, our papers have carried stories of unsuspecting people being caught in the unnecessary web of senseless rules and bureaucracy.

Recently, there was the story of a young mother buying herself a bottle of wine in a supermarket and placing it in the pram beside her baby. She was told she could not take it away in case the baby drank it.

And here is another such a tale. A 27-year old policeman, off duty, went into a supermarket to buy some wine. At the checkout, the assistant asked for proof of his age.

Somewhat perplexed and bemused, he produced his warrant card and showed it to her.

She said it was insufficient because it did not show his date of birth. So are the supermarkets becoming our new secret police?

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