Print

---

Francine

My, you're persuasive.   I'm more convinced now -
particularly because your interesting reasoning has
resonances here in the Burton upon Stather churchyard.

The present church, which contains 10th century Saxon
architectural evidence according to Pevsner, was
probably built  on the site of earlier buildings (arguably
even as far back as Roman times for which there is
ashlar evidence ).

Close to the northeast corner of the chancel there is
a large, ancient yew tree standing on its own.  In the
centre of the churchyard area south of the church
there is another large yew tree, also standing on its own.
A short distance from the NE corner yew tree there
used to be a well (sadly filled in a few years ago). A
well usually has an ancient lineage.

The proximity of the church, the NE corner yew tree, and
the well,  fit comfortably with your thesis regarding the
religious associations of yew trees. Many thanks for the
references which I will follow up in due course.

There are many more yew trees in the churchyard but
their location would not seem to support a longbows
source hypothesis. For example, on the south side of the
church there is a row of five old yew trees lining the
east  side of the churchyard space.  Their number, size
and contiguity to each other suggest to me that they were
planted to screen  off the Black Bull Inn that was erected
in 1687 according to Pevsner.  I wish I knew how to age yew
trees. My  guess is that these five could be three hundred
years old.

The screen role in the southern location is given support by
the position of a further eight yew trees that line the north
and west sides of the churchyard area north of the church.
I haven't a sourced explanation of why these eight were
planted.  Churchyard tradition would be the reason for the
choice of tree however.



Ron Hornsby
Burton upon Stather



----- Original Message -----
From: Francine Nicholson <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, October 02, 1999 02:16
Subject: RE: Yew trees in Denmark


> Ron:
>
> I think that if you take a look at the Irish evidence--placelore,
> annals, saints' lives, etc.--you'll find that yews were an integral part
of
> the lore and landscape, prior to the arrival of Gerald of Wales. And there
> really is no need to rely on Graves.
>
> Here's something from a fairly basic source, Anne Ross' _Pagan
> Celtic Britain_ which also mentions Denmark:
>
> "Other sacred trees mentioned in early Irish contexts are Tortu's
> Tree (an ash),
> /Eo Rosa ( a yew), /Eo Mugna (a yew). and the Tree of Dath/i (an
> ash).
> Assemblies were held under these venerated trees, and it was tabu to
> damage them
> in any way. Bile, the name used for sacred trees, may perhaps occur
> in place
> names as Bilum in Denmark, and certainly Bilem in France.  The Irish
> goddess/queen Medb, possesses her own bile, Bile Meidbe, and the
> bird and the
> squirrel which were supposed to live one on either of her shoulders
> are likewise
> tree dwellers." p 60-61
>
> Incidentally, some of the earliest Irish monasteries--for example Magh
Bile
> or Moville, where Colum cille studied--include "bile" in their names. As
> Ross notes, a bile could be a tree other than a yew--it was the term for
the
> tree at the sacral/ritual center of the tribe and was identified with both
> the tribe and its leader. To strike at or damage the bile of a tribe was a
> crime (see Fergus Kelly, _Early Irish Laws_).

The site of the bile was often > also the site of a holy well. Such sites
were routinely adopted by
 Christians seeking to build monasteries in Ireland (see Lisa Bitel, _Isle
of
the Saints: Monastic Settlement and Christian Community in Early Ireland_
which has a chapter on the attitudes of the monks and their criteria in
choosing sites).


 Ireland also has many placenames incorporating "e/o."
> (_Irish Place Names_ by P.W. Joyce was written for a popular audience but
> it's reliable.) In the sixth century when 30 Saxon monks fled the island
of
> Britain, Colman founded a monastery for them at Magh E/o--plain of the
> yew--from which the modern county Mayo is named.
>
> "The supernatural heroine of the early Irish tale, Aislinge Oenguso
> ["Dream of O/engus--translation of this tale can be found in Gantz, _Early
> Irish Myths and Sagas_ ], is named Caer Ibormeith, 'Yew Berry.'  [Ibor or
> Iubhar is the alternate Irish word for "yew."] In the tragic story of the
> death of two lovers, Baile and Aillinn, a yew tree is described as grown
> from one grave and an apple tree from the other, and the form of the heads
> of the lovers appeared in the tops of the trees."  p. 64, Ross
>
> On page 89, Ross quotes from Stokes (1895) in note 46, from the
> Rennes Dindshenchas, Revue Celtique, xvi: 277. (BTW, the Rennes
Dindsenchas
> is a medieval compilation of placelore in metrical form.)
>
> "The Tree of Ross and the Tree of Mugna and the Ancient Tree of
> Dath-i and the
> branching Tree of Uisnech and the Ancient Tree of Tortu - five trees
> are those.
>
> "The Tree of Ross is a yew... a king's wheel, a prince's right... a
> straight firm
> tree, a firm strong god. (dia dronbalc).
>
> "Now the branchy tree of Belach Dath/i is an ash...
>
> "Now the tree of Mugna is an oak... three crops it bore every year,
> ie. appels,
> goodly, marvelous, and nuts, round, blood red, and acorns, brown,
> ridgy.
>
> "The Tree of Tortu is an ash...
>
> "Due northward fell the Ash of Uisnech."
>
> These five trees, in the "Settling of the Manor of Tara" are said to
> correspond to the five provinces of Ireland. One of the primary
> dynasties--the E/oghanachta of Munster--can be translated as "People of
the
> Yew" and their origin legend of how they came to take over the site of
> Cashel includes the seeing of a vision of a flagstone (the stone used in
> inauguration ceremonies) and a yew tree.
>
> Yew is, as I  posted elsewhere, one of the trees associated with the
> tree-version of ogham.
>
> What I'm trying to point out is that yews are found throughout Irish
> lore and landscape in sources that predate Gerald and the Danes--and are
> certainly more reliable than Graves. What I've cited is the tip of the
> iceberg,
>
> Francine Nicholson
>
>





%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%