Day 38. Preston's Yew Trees

The yew trees lining the church path.

These yews are characteristic of many churchyards in Britain. These probably date to the mid 18^th century, when the church was largely rebuilt and the gates relocated.

The yew has an ancient association with the supernatural. It was also linked with immortality and eternal life – it is evergreen and has a potential lifespan of over a thousand years. It also has another association with death: all parts of the tree are deadly poisonous. For these reasons, it has been planted in Christian churchyards since the earliest times. But this symbolism long pre-dates the Christian era. Yews were planted by the Celts along roads and on burial mounds over two thousand years ago.  

 

Yews outside Locke's Farm.

 

The same house in the 19^th century.

More unusually, a pair of yew trees also flank the doors of many houses in Preston, including those built in the 1850s by  James Roberts-West. This suggests they were planted around this time.

The yew was often planted outside houses in more superstitious times, as it was believed to protect against attack by fairies, witches and such like.  It is tempting to link this with Preston's yews, but James Roberts-West was probably not the superstitious type, so their purpose remains a mystery.