Cemetery plants

[cycnich]

Pat N.,
the Yew tree is amazing! Any idea how estimated old it is?

It is thought to be the oldest yew tree in England and estimated at 1600 years old.

[Armin]

Wow  Pat,
the oldest Yew tree I have seen is growing in the "Palmengarten" in Frankfurt am Main. Just 300+ years ...
I have a great respect of the age and old relict.

[Maggi Young]

Pat N.,
the Yew tree is amazing! Any idea how estimated old it is?

It is thought to be the oldest yew tree in England and estimated at 1600 years old.

Not only the oldest but surely the largest as well? It is huge! A wonderful tree.

[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)

[Maggi Young]

My goodness.... yes, fascinating to look into these great old trees.... this site is useful:
http://www.ancient-yew.org/searchForm.php

[Armin]

Maggi,
realy fascinating trees. Never thought of such giant trees in the UK.
I was teached all large trees were cut for shipbuilding 

[Maggi Young]

[quote[ .....all large trees were cut for shipbuilding [/quote]

That would have been the case for most big old trees at one time, Armin, but Yew trees are venerated from olden times and since they are often found in ancient churchyards they would be safe there from cutting.

[Gerry Webster]

Maggi,
realy fascinating trees. Never thought of such giant trees in the UK.
I was teached all large trees were cut for shipbuilding 

Armin - I think in the UK  it was mainly oaks that were cut for ship building.

[Armin]

Thanks Maggi and Gerry - never stop learning

[Richard Green]

Maggi, I agree with Gerry that it was mainly Oaks rather than Yews which were used for shipbuilding.  Yews were originally venerated by Pagans, and there is a theory that early churches were placed to incorporate older Pagan worship areas.  

However many of the Yews currently visible in British churchyards are Irish Yews which are very much more recent in origin.  I think these were planted in the 1700s.  Perhaps some of our Irish correspondents could tell us?

[Armin]

Richard,
interesting. Thanks for the background info.

[TheOnionMan]

I found another Allium too which had been planted (Mark: could you float down here and suggest an identity?)

(Aside: the Norwegian word Kirkegård as the Scots here will have no problem with means literally Church Garden (or yard))

Sorry Stephen, my avatar got stuck for several days as it floated around in an out-of-body experience.  It looks like the plants in that particular grave have been planted, so the Allium is likely not native, and since the Allium is not in flower yet, the possiblities of what it could be are large, to say the least, so I can't venture a guess.  But as you can see, now that I am butterfly-like, perhaps I can visit that plant in flower and get a better idea 

[Maggi Young]

[quote[ .....all large trees were cut for shipbuilding

That would have been the case for most big old trees at one time, Armin, but Yew trees are venerated from olden times and since they are often found in ancient churchyards they would be safe there from cutting.
[/quote]

I missed out the "oak" from the big old OAK tree part..... my point was that yews were not used for shipbuilding and that the old yews (so often by those times associated with churchyards) would not have been cut anyway because of their history and position.

[ashley]

However many of the Yews currently visible in British churchyards are Irish Yews which are very much more recent in origin.  I think these were planted in the 1700s.  Perhaps some of our Irish correspondents could tell us?

As none of my compatriots has responded I'll try.

Fastigiate yews now widely planted are mainly clones from a female plant found on Cuilcagh mountain, County Fermanagh around 1740.  Originally it was considered a new species, Taxus hibernica, but is now accepted as T. baccata f. fastigiata.  It began to be planted throughout Ireland and Britain in graveyards from around the mid-nineteenth century, i.e. only about 150 years ago.

However yew (Irish iúr) had an important place in the lore of pre-Christian & early Christian Ireland, including religious significance for Celts & maybe the pre-Celtic inhabitants.  In the indigeous Ogham alphabet cryptic kennings for the letter ‘I’ were ‘oldest tree’ and ‘fairest of the ancients’, generally considered to refer to yew.  In the eighth-century 'Laws of Neighbourhood' (Bretha Comaithchesa) yew was one of the 7 ‘nobles of the wood’.  Substantial fines were levied against anyone damaging these most valued species, better protection than we give them today!  Iúr appears in several placenames including Tír an Iúir, Terenure, now a suburb of Dublin, and An tIúr, Newry in County Down.

An excellent reference is ‘Trees of Ireland, native and naturalised’ by E Charles Nelson (Lilliput, Dublin, 1993), with exquisite watercolour illustrations by Wendy Walsh.  Hard to find now at a reasonable price unfortunately.  

[David Nicholson]

Interesting stuff Ashley, thanks for posting that and it does show why place names are often a key to the past. If the Celts were the indiginous inhabitants of Britain (and opinion on this seems to differ) then the fact that the Yew was an ancient symbol of the immortality of the soul in pagan temples, later picked up by Celtic druids and then adopted by Christians would all seem to fit together nicely.