The Old Yew Tree, Astbury

[poliphilo]

Comments

[oakmouse]

Wow --- gorgeous. Reminds me of the yew tree in the churchyard at Wilmington (one of my most prized memories from a trip to England). Thank you!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I believe there was a law commanding that yew trees be planted in English churchyards as the wood was needed to make bows.

[oakmouse]

That would certainly make sense!

[mokie]

Offered with a grain of salt, this being the internet and all:
http://www.mokshaproductions.com/Yggdrasil.htm
http://www.whitedragon.org.uk/articles/yew.htm

One suggests that the trees predate the cemeteries in most cases, or at least the church's cemetery, and that the bodies followed given the tree's pre-Christian death/resurrection symbolism.

http://www.alsirat.com/symbols/plants.html
"English cemeteries became yew-tree reserves because the branches were used to make bows. Once a year, parishioners would clip the churchyard yews so that other cemeteries might be filled with the victims of war."

Lovely picture, by the by. :)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I suppose there's no reason why both can't be true.

But when an article says there's "no doubt" about some assertion while failing to offer hard evidence I see a warning flare go up.

[mokie]

I'm wary of pagan sites in general. Hence the grain o' salt, though. :)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Well, yes. They don't have much of a reputation for impartial, scholarship, do they?