YEWS IN CUMBRIA and NORTH LANCASHIRE

One of the 2000-year old Borrowdale Yews © WEP

 

The Cumbrian Yew Book by Ken Mills
and with a foreword by Prof David Bellamy

is available - click HERE and click on Menu then Book Sales

THE YEW TREE

Background
The English yew (Taxus baccata) is unique. It is one of the longest-lived trees in the world; the oldest one, at Fortingale in Scotland, has been estimated at over 6,000 years. Cumbria and North Lancashire have their share of ancient yews some of which are listed below.

The yew was revered by the earliest inhabitants of Britain, whose daily lives were closely bound up with trees and whose alphabet even incorporated tree names. Over 2,000 years ago, the Celts gave this tree the most important place in their “tree calendar"; its place marked the important festival of Samhain - their New Year’s eve. Some people keep this still today in our Hallowe’en celebrations. The yew symbolised their belief in the cyclic existence of all life: the death of the old at autumn and the beginning of the process of rebirth ready for the spring. They recognised immortality in the ancient tree.

This early respect for the long-lived yew led to it becoming a place of worship, burial and other important ceremonials - a sacred place which led the first Christians to build their new churches near them. Hence the churchyard yew so common today. In some areas a sprig of yew is still placed on coffins.

The Tree
Yews are very tough and can withstand harsher conditions of climate and terrain than most other native trees. They appear to grow best, however, on limestone soils. Elsewhere they were probably planted by our ancestors. Their timber is very dense and a lovely orange-brown in colour. It was found the best for longbows and the oldest wooden artefact yet discovered is a yew spear from 150,000 years ago. Great armies of English archers were supplied with yew bows throughout the Middle Ages and when it became scarce in the 14th century imports were made from the continent. Yew bark, leaves, and seeds are all poisonous and should not be eaten; people and animals have sometimes died from doing so. An extract from the leaves (called taxol) is now used extensively in the treatment of some cancers.

A Class of its Own
Again the yew is unique in that it doesn't fit easily into the two main groups of trees. Some botanists have put it in a class of its own. Along with the pictures, the following points should help you identify them:
1. Dark-green, needle-like leaves are shinly above, dull underneath and arranged comb-like on two sides of the twig. They remain on the twig for many years before falling to the earth.
2. The very tiny female flowers are borne on separate trees from those bearing the male flowers, so that both female and male trees are needed to produce seed. The male trees are covered in their pale yellow flowers in February/March and give off clouds of microscopic pollen when the wind blows.

 

 

 

 

 

3. The ripe seed is a beautifiul red aril (like a berry) which encloses the single hard seed in the autumn.

 

 

 

 

 

4. From a distance, the tree is very distinctive with its dark green foliage and its low, spreading shape when really old. It is rarely more than 15m tall (though can be 20m and more slender when growing in forest conditions) and its stout, sometimes multi-stemmed trunk may be hidden by dense foliage.

Size, age and growth patterns
If it has a minimum circumference at 1.5m above the ground, or less, of more than 3m (l0ft.), it is probably over 400 years old. If more than 6m in circumference, then it may well have been around since the first millennium! We are keen to identify and record all the old and large yews in the area and would be pleased to hear from you if you know of any in your area (contact wep@woodeducation.org.uk). With the appropriate agreement we will pass on the records to the Ancient Tree Hunt.

Recent work has confirmed how difficult it is to be sure of the age of ancient yews, especially when they are hollow and there is no means of knowing how the pattern of their growth may have altered with both site and climate variation over the years. The work of Prof Doug Larsen and his associates of the Cliff Ecology Research Group based at the University of Guelp, Ontario, Canada has revealed how slowly yews may grow under the sort of stressful conditions found on cliff sites**. A specimen gathered on Whitbarrow Scar turned out to have more than 210 annual rings in 1.5 cm (quoted in Ancient Upland Yew - new research by Paul Greenwood in the Tree Registration Council of the British Isles Newsletter 2003-4 p.4)

 

Some of the Ancient Yews in this area

1. Armathwaite Hall Hotel, Bassenthwaite* map ref NY207325 2000yrs

2. Seathwaite, Borrowdale map ref NY235126 female, 2000yrs (Largest of three)

3. Yew Tree Farm, Lorton* map ref NY161254 female, l600yrs

4. Martindale Church, Ullswater map ref NY434184 male, 2000yrs

5. Old Church Hotel, Ullswater* map ref NY442212 female, 1500yrs

6 Yew Bank, Upper Eskdale map ref NY229031 (lOOOft a. s. l.) 2000yrs

7. Stonethwaite Beck, Borrowdale map ref NY2ZJ 133 900yrs

8. Royal Yew Inn, Dean map ref NY075253 800yrs

9. Naworth Castle, Brampton* map ref NY559625 female, 900yrs

10. Muncaster Castle, RavengLass map refSDlO3963 900yrs

11. Greystoke Church, Penrith map ref NY443307 900yrs

 

NOTES:
1.Trees marked with an arterisk * are on private property and permission should be sought to visit them. We hope there is one near your home so you can go and pay your respects soon, even give it a big hug; it will surely enjoy that after centuries of perhaps standing unheeded.
2. The former Yew Trees for the Millennium in Cumbria Project began the work on yews in Cumbria and was supported by:Council for Agriculture and Rural Life, Cumbria Broadleaves, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Diocese of Carlisle Youth Service, East Cumbria Countryside Project, GlaxoWellcome, Solway Rural Initiative Limited, and Wood Education Programme. Wood Education Programme Trust and Woodmanship  now continue the work begun during the project.
3. ** If you find the idea of studying how how living things respond to growth on cliffs, see Larson, D.W., Matthes, U. and Kelly, P.E. 2000. Cliff Ecology. Cambridge University Press, UK. The University website is http://www.uoguelph.ca