The Crowhurst Yew

The Crowhurst Yew resides in the churchyard of St. George's church in Crowhurst, Lingfield, in the county of Surrey. It is an ancient tree, believed to be over 4000 years old, and possessing an impressive girth of 10.01 metres - making it one of the largest in Britain. At once time it was home to a destitute family, and a table and benches were installed inside - a door being fitted into a natural opening in the contorted and twisted trunk. A cannonball was also discovered to be embedded in the trunk - the wood had already begun to grow over it, and it was believed to have dated to the civil war!

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Yews are popular trees in churchyards, apparently mainly for the fact that their poisonous qualities detracted local farmers from letting their animals stray into them to graze, although the toxicity of the tree has been challenged - it apparently only effects humans and horses, leading to stomach disorders.

"We … know that ever since people arrived in force upon these shores they have been in the habit of planting yew trees in acts of sanctification, close to where they eventually hoped to be laid to rest"
David Bellamy, The Times, 3 October 1998



We know that early Christians hoping to convert the masses commonly adopted existing holy sites for their own purposes, and many churches were built on sacred sites, incorporating existing deities into their own pantheon of saints. The yew was seen as a protecting force, many people believing it had the power to ward off the devil and evil influences, and therefore was encouraged near dwellings and sites of habitation. It was one of the few trees that also flourished on the natural material and organic matter decaying beneath the churchyard grounds, the shade the tree casts and the toxins in the root system lead to a natural space being left around the yew, and therefore it is perfect for ceremonies. Yew shoots were also frequently buried with corpses.

The yew is famous also for being used to make bows, the wood of the trunk being tough and durable, and the tree was also utilised in this manner in classical times. Another interesting link between Christianity and the yew is the fact that the heartwood is red, whilst the sap of the yew when seen runs white - which could be believed to represent the blood and body of Christ. The tree linking with the common themes of birth, death and resurrection - as evidenced in Celtic, Nordic and Anglo-Saxon tradition.

The yew being evergreen it stood all year round as a reminder of eternal life, adopted by Druidry for its strong symbolic value - the branches grow down into the ground to emerge back towards the skies, eventually growing around the existing trunk, becoming part of the original tree. Yew staves are used as tools for recording incantations and information, words were cut into the wood in Ogham for magical uses.



In Ireland, the yew was cut into staves, and these were kept in graveyards as measuring tools, for graves and corpses. Yew was also used in Beltaine rites, being one of the nine sacred trees burnt in Beltaine fires. According to the Tree Council of Ireland, most Irish yews are apparently female.

In modern times tinctures have been made from yew berry flesh to cure headaches.

Finally, the bard himself - Shakespeare - famously used the yew in his witches' incantation in Macbeth: ""slips of yew, silvered in the moon's eclipse" crow the crones whilst stirring the cauldron to create a noxious brew.

"At Crowhurst alias Crowherst, in the hundred of Tanridge in the eastern part of the county, and in the church yard, there is the largest tree I have met with in the kingdom ; its circumference at 5 feet high in the stem is 36 feet, and the extreme height about 50 feet. The situation of the church yard, standing upon a bold elevation, commanding the most extensive views of the counties of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, and forming, as it were, a rallying point to each"

from A Compendium of modern husbandry; principally written during a survey of Surrey
 James Malcolm, 1805

photos: monumentaltrees.com