The Ancient Yew

A History of Taxus baccata

Robert Bevan-Jones

• Publisher: Windgather Press
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781911188124
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Geology & Earth Sciences

The gnarled, immutable yew tree is one of the most evocative sights in the British and Irish language, an evergreen impression of immortality, the tree that provides a living botanical link between our own landscapes and those of the distant past. This book tells the extraordinary story of the yew's role in the landscape through the millennia, and makes a convincing case for the origins of many of the oldest trees, as markers of the holy places founded by Celtic saints in the early medieval 'Dark Ages'.With wonderful photographic portraits of ancient yews and a gazetteer (with locations) of the oldest yew trees in Britain, the book brings together for the first time all the evidence about the dating, history, archaeology and cultural connections of the yew. Robert Bevan-Jones discusses its history, biology, the origins of its name, the yew berry and its toxicity, its distribution across Britain, means of dating examples, and their association with folklore, with churchyards, abbeys, springs, pre-Reformation wells and as landscape markers. This third edition has an updated introduction with new photographs and corrections to the main text.

CHAPTER ONE

Botanical Features of the Yew

The physical characteristics of the yew are relevant to those examining yews growing in local churchyards, formal gardens, cliffs and hedgerows. They are also relevant to students of yew wood in the archaeological record, as they recur wherever yews grow, or have grown, in the British landscape. The yew has heavy orange-pink-red wood, occasionally mixed with purple, inside the outer white sapwood. The yew is unusual amongst British trees, being ‘dioecious’, having male and female features on separate trees. From the age of about ten years, the yews tend to become male or female for life, except for the rare monoeceous specimens, such as at West Felton, Shropshire and at Buckland in Dover, Kent.1 These are very rare and tend to be wholly one gender, with only a branch showing characteristics of the other gender. Generally, only the female has berries.

The yew is often very slow growing and they are probably the longest living trees in Europe. There are several reasons why some yews may outlive other British trees. The main limitations to the longevity of any tree are environmental.2 These factors may include the effects of storms causing damaged wood and fungal infection. In the damp British climate moisture can assist the decay of a tree, especially if already damaged. The yew is the only British tree of full forest stature that is dry under its canopy in both summer and winter. The evergreen canopy of the yew reduces infection and decay through rot. When a trunk is damaged the evergreen canopy grows new branches to protect torn areas from light, water and infections.

The dense, poisonous wood of the yew contains many diterpenoid alkaloids. These compounds discourage many parasites that beset other old trees. The yew has only two common parasites, when oaks may have two hundred or more.3 The yew gall wasp, or midge, is the common yew parasite. In laying its eggs, it damages the terminal buds of branches. This wasp rarely plagues a yew to death, but it can be persistent. Infected buds flare up, having the appearance of small artichokes, hence the common name ‘artichoke’ galls. A similar insect creates oak apples on oaks.

The other key yew parasite is a relatively harmless fungus. The yellow bracket fungus called the Polyporus sulpbureus,4 is the only fungus commonly found on the yew. This exploits damaged areas of trunk, but rarely produces enough fungal growth to harm the tree. It is the only fungus that is common on the yew.

Botanical Classifications

The yew is an evergreen Gymnosperm of the order Taxales; family Taxacae and genus Taxus. Botanists disagree on the taxonomy, the exact classification of the genus Taxus, and allot six to ten species across the northern temperate zones of Asia, Asia Minor, India, Europe, North Africa and America. These species, including Taxus baccata, are all thought to come from one ancestor, Paleotaxus redivida, which grew on the landmass before it separated into continents. An example of this was preserved on a Triassic Age fossil laid down 200,000,000 years ago.5 A later fossil of yew was found, of Taxus jurassica, 140,000,000 years ago. Taxus jurassica had the key characteristics of Taxus baccata, common or European yew, Taxus cuspidata, Japanese yew, Taxus brevifolia, Pacific or Florida yew and Taxus canadensis, the Canadian yew. Taxus jurassica evolved into Taxus grandis, and less than a million years ago, this species was almost indistinguishable from the European yew, Taxus baccata, just as today Taxus baccata, Taxus cuspidata and Taxus brevifolia are almost indistinguishable.6 It has been suggested that the present day yews can all hybridise with each other and that they all have near identical chemical constituents and are near identical trees.

The yews of Irish history before circa 1780 were all common or ‘English’ yews, Taxus baccata, not ‘Irish’ yews, as suggested by Robert Graves.7 The form called the ‘Irish’ yew, classified as Taxus baccata fastigiata, which has upright branch growth, was discovered growing on a hillside in Ireland in circa 1778. Cuttings grown from this tree are found today in many churchyards. The original parent Irish yew still survives at Florence Court, County Fermanagh, in Northern Ireland. There was no male tree, so all Irish yews have been berried females, cuttings from the one parent. The seeds revert to normal Taxus baccata form. The Irish yews are as poisonous as other types of yew. Many other forms and cultivars of Taxus baccata exist such as Taxus baccata aureovariegata, a goldenleafed yew. Taxus baccata fructoluteo, a yew with yellow arils (or berries) was a form first noticed growing on an estate in Glasnevin, Ireland in 1817.

The Etymology of Taxus and Yew

The origin of the botanical description of the yew genus as Taxus is somewhat obscure. In Italy the yew had often been known as Tasso and Taxus, as used in the botanical nomenclature devised by Swedish botanist Linnaeus (b. 1707–d. 1778). In Spain the yew is usually called Tejo. Pliny says that Toxicum, poison, was so named from this tree, although toxon, a bow is another, equally plausible derivation.8

In Britain yews have been called ‘yew’ for at least fifteen hundred years. This is frequently demonstrated in place-name, manuscript and personal name evidence. Examples of Anglo-Saxon spellings of yew, like eow, iw, eob,9 are recorded in Anglo-Saxon charters and manuscripts, some dating to the seventh century. (These are discussed in more detail in chapter 6.) In later medieval literature, Chaucer spells it alternately as eu and ew, while Spenser refers to iun, yugh, yeugh, yewe, yowe, you, ewgh, ugh, u and ewe.10

In Wales the yew has been known as yw, ywen, or occasionally yreu-yw or ywe.11 According to W. J. Watson, ivo is the early form of the Old Irish eo, a yew tree. Eu and io were recorded in use in 667.12 Yew has various Celtic forms, ‘Early Celtic, eburos, Old Irish, ibar, Scots Gaelic, iubhar, yew.’ Another Gaelic equivalent is ibor, or iubhar,13 pronounced as ‘ure’.

The yew, like the oak, is a British tree likely to have retained a name recognisable to regional European populations since at least the Iron Age period. This suggestion is also reflected in the historical records of European words for yew. In France l’if signifies yew; in northern France, ivis is Breton for yew. In Germany it has been known variously as Eibe, Ibenbaum and Ifenbaum.14

Some yew place-name evidence

Place-name evidence contributes something to understanding the historic role of the yew in the British landscape. The parts of Britain where the historic distribution of large old yews has been recorded, seems to closely match the patterns of existing yew place-name distribution. Equally, no yew placenames are found in regions where large old yews have never been historically recorded, such as Suffolk, Norfolk and Cornwall. However most yew placename parishes in Britain do not contain old yews today,15 even though the place-names survive.

Any mature yews surviving in yew place-name parishes ought to be preserved, due to their rarity and potential significance. Sadly, such survivals are almost unknown. There is a Yew Tree Hill, in Netherton, West Midlands, recorded pre-1820, that seems to have no old yews today. There is also a North Yew Tree Heath in Hampshire, which has several types of prehistoric barrow within it, with disturbed summits, but no yews.16 Yew Tree Batch near Yapsul Spring on the Long Mynd in Shropshire has no yews there today.17

Yews are often preserved in place-names, though such names are difficult to date empirically. We are mostly reliant on surviving records to reach as far back as we can go. Cumbria has Ivegill, first recorded in 1361, meaning ‘deep narrow valley of the river Ive’, an old Scandinavian name meaning ‘yew stream’.18 Kent has Iwade, first recorded in 1179, the ‘ford where yew-trees grow.’ East Sussex has Iden, ‘woodland pastures where yew-trees grow’ in 1806, and Ifield, ‘Open land where yew-trees grow’ also in the Domesday Book. In south-west Yorkshire, Ewden, first recorded in 1290, signifies ‘yew tree valley’.19

Hampshire, Surrey and Sussex have an early place-name, Ewhurst. According to Margaret Gelling, hyrst is cognate with Welsh prys meaning brushwood.20 Ewhurst means ‘yew tree wooded hill.’ John Aubrey in 1719 recorded that Ewhurst, Surrey, was so named from ‘the vast quantities of yew-trees that formerly abounded here’.21 Iwode in Hampshire refers to an unusually large yew wood, possibly a forest, which may have been present in pre-Saxon times.22

These Anglo-Saxon names are thought to stem from old English ig, or iw, signifying yew. However, the Scottish place-name Udale, in Cromarty, first recorded in 1578, is thought to be a contemporary Norse derivation, y-dalr, ‘yew dale’.23

Many yew place-names originate in Pre-Roman dialects. Somerset has Evercreech, Celtic crug, meaning hill with an uncertain first element, possibly Old English eofor ‘wild boar’, or a ‘Celtic word meaning yew-tree’.24 The extreme age of these names makes ambiguity of meaning a frequent hazard of interpretation. The Oxford Book of Place-names, 1991, explains that the name of the town of York in the Roman era, Eborakon, meaning ‘yew tree estate’, was recorded in circa 150 AD, also then known as Eboracum.25 This yew name is thus the origin of Yorkshire and New York. The ...