A series of country lanes winding through the heart of the English county of Somerset lead to the village of Ashbrittle. This small village holds an ancient treasure in its churchyard: a 3000 year old example of the English Yew, Taxus baccata. The tree was mature when Stonehenge was in use, making the 15th century church near where it grows a youngster in comparison. As a plaque near the tree declares, “Generations of local people have cherished this tree, one of the oldest living things in Britain.”

It is impossible for a visitor to the Church of St. John the Baptist to miss the Ashbrittle Yew. With a girth of 40 feet and a vast canopy that arches over you as you approach it, the tree invites you to stop and gaze upon its lichen-covered branches, many of which nearly touch the ground, and its ancient, gnarled trunks cushioned by the lush mound of vegetation from which they grow. The tree has a hollow central trunk, with six smaller ones surrounding it. This distinctive form may have arisen long ago as the tree repaired itself after damage or infection in its original trunk.

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