The age of the oldest growing yews is estimated at over 4500 years. The yew trees were planted in sacred places or were sacred themselves.
Most of the old yews grow in churchyards. Often, however, they are thousands of years older than the churches beside which they're growing. The Saxon church in Tandridge was built in 1066 on the roots of an old yew tree that was then already 1000 years old.
We can suppose that Christian churches were built in pagan sacred places.
Known as the Tree of Life to Celtic people, the Yew is still included in church decorations at Easter as a symbol of the continuity of life.
The yew represents the passage of the sun through the darkest time of the year. Along with other evergreens it was revered as a tree of light, its green foliage in the dead of winter emphasising that life would continue.
To enhance this, all evergreens were traditionally dressed with shiny, sparkling objects around Yuletide to attract the light of the sun back into the year.
("Look What's in Store for Yew in the Millennium"
edited by Ashford Borough Council )
