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Coming back to this subject, I have done a little rethinking and researching, and it shows how well-established possibly erroneous concepts can become. Previously I was quite convinced that yews were planted in English churchyards to ensure a supply of bows. After reading all comments on this list, and realising that the yew tree must be cut down to make bows, the old trees in churchyards do not fit into this harvesting pattern. To maximise bow stave supply would require the tree cut down as soon as the trunk was big enough to make bows. Humans are very practical beings, so I now accept that there were other reasons to have yews, especially ones that were hundreds of years old. Dr. Paul Spice. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%