Cemetery plants

[Maggi Young]

There is a tree in Scotland that is thought to be the oldest tree in Europe; it is a yew tree , it grows at Fortingall in Perthshire and is thought to be as old as 3000 years! 

[David Nicholson]

Aren't there some pre-historic sites in the area too, like Carn na Marbh? That would provide another link from pagan to Christian use of the Yew as a symbol.

[Maggi Young]

Yes, David.
 That ancient site was said to be the birthplace of Pontius Pilate..... it was also said that his bodyguard formed the first regiment of Scotland... the "First of Foot" as the Ist Battalion, the Royal Scots, the Royal Regiment were always known.....I never quite knew how much truth there was in that, but it's oft repeated regimental history, anyhow!

Pontius Pilate's Bodyguard: A History of the First or the Royal Regiment of Foot the Royal Scots (the Royal Regiment) by Robert Haston Paterson has the story, but I no longer have a copy.

[Maggi Young]

I've had a search among the regimental stuff and find that the nickname as Pontius Pilate's Bodyguard came from some banter between the Colonel of the Royal Scots with the French Regiment of Picardy in the 17th Century, who boasted that prior to the Resurrection Christ's tomb was guarded by the French regiment.... to which the Scot replied that if his regiment had been on guard they wouldn't have been asleep!
The Royal Scots are the oldest infantry regiment, raised in 1633 though from an even earlier band of soldiers, returning from Sweden. Interesting that their nickname should be associated with Pontius Pilate who is rumoured to have had Scottish origins !

[David Nicholson]

.............. with Pontius Pilate who is rumoured to have had Scottish origins !

Yes, I'd heard he had deep pockets and short arms

[Gerry Webster]

There are a number of very large, old yew trees in Sussex. By some estimates the one photographed by Pat at Wilmington is a relative youngster at 1600 years.  The largest in the county is at Coldwaltham church & this may be about 3000  years old. (see  Owen Johnson, The Sussex Tree Book, Pomegranate  Press, 1998)

A Google search reveals this site on the Yew at Coldwaltham:

http://www.ancient-yew.org/fightingfortrees.shtml

The account  given here suggests  a more modest (& perhaps more plausible) estimate of age as  280 - 1000 years. Apparently the problem with estimating the age of  Yews is that most are hollow so cores cannot be taken.
Here is a picture from the website.

[Armin]

Ashley and all,

thanks for the lesson in Irish and British Yew history

The Coldwaltham Yew is very impressive

How many storms it has withstood, how many wars passed by over the time and how many loving couples under his umbrella this tree might have seen ytd?
In contrast - how short are our lifes compared to the giant tree?

[arillady]

Thanks Pat N and Maggi (by the way lovely photo of our Maggi) for the yew tree tales and churchyard scenes.

[Maggi Young]

Thank YOU, Pat.... on both counts!! 

[Melvyn Jope]

I would love to do a cemetery ramble of English Cemeteries. I have heard that some have been left to go wild but don't know which except for the Brookwood Cemetery which is wild in parts but they have problems with wild deer and rabbits eating most plants - so you see graves with plants being protected by chicken wire fences.

Hello Pat, I have only just noticed this on Brookwood Cemetery. I was brought up in Brookwood village and spent a lot of time in the cemetery, that sounds really odd but as you know the place is so large and we just regarded it as a park and used to go for walks there and play games like hide and seek, we really never regarded it as scarey we were just so used to it. I now live about three miles from there and still visit occasionally, its a good place to see Roe Deer and birds like the Dartford Warbler and in a few places good for orchids. The photo is of one taken last May.

[arillady]

Yes Melvyn Brookwood C is a fabulous playground and Rookwood in Sydney is similar

[Ed Alverson]

I happened to stop today to take a look at an old cemetery near here that I hadn't previously visited, and it turned out to have quite a nice diversity of native oak savanna wildflowers.  The second photo shows a detail of the tableau, including Ranunculus occidentalis, Erythronium oregonum, Sidalcea virgata, and Fragaria virginiana (the last two not yet in bloom).  Some nice patches of Dodecatheon hendersonii as well, and the clump of Trillium albidum growing between the gravestones of a mother and her son.  Of course there are also some non-native "weeds", including Bellis perennis, Hypochaeris radicata, and Daucus carota, but they are pretty ubiquitous around here.

Ed

[Kovacs Pal]

These pictures were taken in Solda (South Tirol)

[arillady]

How interesting Kovacs - reminds me of the plantings on graves in Sangerhausen Germany. As the graves are very short and squat are ashes placed in them? Why pinetrees when they are likely to get enormous I wonder. It is lovely to see the amount of colour used in the plantings
Thanks for posting the photos