3H 



Tiic Countiy Gcntkniaiis MagarAnc 



there was no proper consecration of tlie tliat the company were supplied with ale and 



burial grounds before the eighth century, and provisions by the churchwardens. These 



of interring within the precincts of the church innovations upon the sanctity of the church 

 until a century later, 



In the neighbourhood of Chichester is the 

 most remarkable assemblage of yew trees in 



were held as innocent amusements, as the 

 profits arising therefrom were distributed to 

 the poor. Another authority thinks that they 



Great Britain. The place is called Kingsley were planted in the churchyards to supply 



Bottom, supposed to be a corruption of branches to be carried in procession on Palm 



" King's slain Bottom," or the place memo- Sunday, instead of the palm, and he asserts 



rablefor the death ofSygbert, King of the West the fact that it is still customary in Ireland 



Saxons, who, being deposed from his royal for the peasants to wear sprigs of yew in 



tlirone,' was in this place stabbed by a swine- their hats from that day until Easter day. 



herd of the forest. It is held with some This substitution of one plant for another I 



shew of reason that these yew trees have 

 been planted as monuments to his memory. 

 In medieval times, when the antient asso- 



have previously noticed in the willow, and I 

 may note that the palm used in the grand 

 religious processions at Rome are not the 



ciations of the yew was lost in the vista of true palms. They are leaves of the Date 

 departed years, we learn that they were in- 

 vested with new powers, and intimately asso- 

 ciated with the superstitions of the times ; and 

 as many authors have seized upon their uses 

 and observances as the true key to its antient 

 history, I propose to treat upon them in 

 illustration of my subject. IMost of you may 

 probably have observed, that they generally 

 stand on the south or sunny side of the 

 churches, and as this was the principal side 

 for worshippers entering the sacred edifice, it 

 has been inferred that they were so planted 

 to afford a shade in the absence of porches 



tree, a species of palm which are cultivated 

 on the African coast of the Mediterranean 

 Sea, and sent to Italyunder the name of palms. 



Pursuing our subject, we have the authority 

 of Dr Aikin, that yews Avere so planted for 

 the sake of furnishing evergreens to decorate 

 the churches at Christmas. Miss Kent says : 

 " Had a tree been planted in churchyards for 

 that use, it would more probably have been 

 the holly, which was never omitted in the 

 Christmas decoration of the churches." 



Others allude to the superstitious age when 

 every living thing was invested with super- 



to those who arrived at the church before the natural powers. In those days the yew, from 

 doors were opened, or during the time of its lonely situation in the garden of the dead, 



prayer. In strength of this view it must be 

 borne in mind that porches were rare features 

 even to the most important churches as late 



was associated with ghosts and fairies, and it 

 was held to have the power of absorbing the 

 foul and noxious vapours arising from the 



as the 13th century. It was further custom- graves, and thus playing a great part as a 



sanitary agent — hence its poisonous qualities. 

 Another opinion is, that yew trees were so 

 shire, hence the fact of seats in the porches planted to be out of the reach of cattle, to 



ary to form seats round these trees, as is the 

 case with the old Yew at Darley, in Derby 



of our churches. 



We have next to notice the belief that they 

 were planted on the south sides of the 

 churches as important features in the village 

 feasts. In former times these feasts were 

 held as charters by the churchwardens, and 

 the churchyards were scenes of frolic and 

 gambol for the young, and the old people 

 were provided with seats under the shady 

 yews. We are also told that banners were 

 erected on a tree near the church door, and 



which they are a deadly poison. It is held 

 that yews were highly necessary in those times 

 for making the long bows for which our 

 English archers were so famous. If this be 

 the case, it is strange that holy ground should 

 be selected for growing materials to be used 

 for warlike purposes. Bearing the importance 

 of the yew in mind for furnishing bow staves, 

 it is strange that we hear nothing of antient 

 forests or plantations of these trees ; this fact 

 strengthens the supposition that they were 



