A Few of our Favourite Things : Yew trees in Eden
by Volunteer Chris Pugh
Every plant in a garden is chosen for a reason— whether for its produce or shade, its beauty, or the memories and emotions it evokes.
The Panacea Society’s 'Garden of Eden' was originally three suburban gardens, the two larger featuring the lawn-and-flowerbed layout typical of the early twentieth century. Much of the planting would have been completed prior to Panacean ownership.
Among the flowers and fruit trees, Octavia was delighted to find a large Weeping Ash, which became her 'Yggdrasil', the sacred Tree of Life in Norse belief.
Yggdrasil in 1932
The Society’s magazine The Panacea, often featured articles on myths and folklore. In one, Octavia mentions two Glastonbury thorn bushes that once grew by The Haven’s front door, suggesting that society members likely knew the legends associated with other trees in their garden, including three yew trees lining the path to the chapel door.
Yew trees have long been associated with religious sites. Sacred to the Druids, who used their wood for wands or spears to banish evil spirits, these trees can live for thousands of years. Over time, their trunks hollow out and new growth emerges from underground branches. In the Victorian language of Flowers, the yew is for sorrow but also resurrection.
One legend tells that Pontius Pilate was either born or played under a yew tree (his father being on a diplomatic mission to the Pictish King at the time ) Another, that Robin Hood married Maid Marian under a Yew tree.
More than 500 churchyards in England contain yews older than the buildings themselves. Several explanations have been proposed for the continued planting of yew trees in churchyards. Because every part of the plant except the fruit’s flesh is toxic, yews may have discouraged livestock from grazing there. Their wood was also used to make longbows needed for the archery practice decreed by Edward III. Yews were said to absorb poisonous vapours and ward off Witches, while in many parts of England their branches were carried into churches as palms on Palm Sunday.
Were the three yew trees planted by the chapel door as a reminder of these associations? Or were they planted prior to the creation of the chapel, from a row of outbuildings to screen the buildings and provide a bit of a windbreak for the domestic scurrying back to the main house with coal or washing ? We can never be sure.
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