Why planted in Churchyards 101 



the dead by mourners and thrown beneath the 

 coffin in the grave. The yew being an evergreen 

 was considered typical of the immortality of man. 

 This was the view held by Ray the naturalist, but 

 the idea seems in both instances to have been taken 

 from Sir Thomas Browne. 



While therefore the evergreen foliage and the 

 enduring nature of the wood were symbolic of the 

 immortality of the soul, the rejuvenescence so 

 peculiar to the yew would be an emblem of the 

 resurrection. Mr. Bowman 1 assumes that the 

 Pagan customs in use by our ancestors would be 

 retained and engrafted on Christianity on its first 

 introduction. 



* When Augustine was sent by Gregory the Great 

 to preach Christianity in Britain, he was enjoined 

 to purify and not to destroy the temples of Pagan 

 worship ; and it is not unlikely that the very 

 presence of the venerable yews would prove an 

 attraction to these sites. The old Pagans, like the 

 modern heathen, loved to place trees round the 

 place of worship.' 



It should be observed that this is a mere as- 

 sumption. St. Augustine's injunction had refer- 

 ence no doubt to Roman temples, arid possibly to 

 Druidical places of worship, so far as I know, but 

 there is little evidence to prove that the ancient 

 Britons held the yew in any reverence, and, as has 



1 Magazine of Natural History, New Series, vol. iv, 



