Visit or call us on 01993 850979

Hedge Xpress - Buy Online - Hedges and ShrubsHedge Xpress - Buy Online - Hedges and Shrubs
  • Visit Our Shop
    • Hedging
      • Fast Growing Hedges
      • Root Ball
      • Smaller Hedging
      • Taller Hedging
    • Lavender
      • Lavandula Angustifolia (English)
      • Lavender Chaytoriae
      • Lavender Intermedia (Dutch)
      • Larger Lavender
    • Topiary
      • Decorative Box Hedge
    • Shrubs
      • Flowering Shrubs
    • Garden / Lawn Edging
  • Hedges
    • Shop Hedges
  • Edging
    • Shop Edging
  • Lavender
    • Shop Lavender
    • Larger Lavender
    • Lavender Angustifolia (English)
    • Lavender Chaytoriae
    • Lavender Intermedia (Dutch)
  • Shrubs
    • Shop Shrubs
    • Fast Growing Shrubs
    • Flowering Shrubs
  • Topiary
    • Shop Topiary
    • Box Balls & Cones
    • Yew Box Balls & Cones

The Yew in Myth, Magic and Legend

Hedge Xpress
Jul 27, 2014 Evergreen Hedging Plants 0 Comment

Little in nature has played so important a role in so many cultures, in so many countries and for so many millennia as the Yew.

It is perhaps no coincidence that one of the world’s oldest surviving objects fashioned from wood is the Clactonian Yew spear head – so called because it was discovered in, yes, Clacton-on-Sea! It is so old – at least 400,000 (sic) years – that it was made not by man but by one of our distant ancestors, Homo Erectus. More recently, the Yew has been a constant facet of our imagination as well as our practical lives. Here are just a few examples:

• In Norse mythology, the centre of the universe was occupied by Yggdrasil, a giant tree where the gods met daily. For centuries, this tree was thought to be an ash, but the latest scholarship points to it being a Yew just like the Sacred Tree at the Temple at Uppsala, Sweden
• The Yew was sacred to the pre-Christian Druids – a symbol of regeneration based on the Yew’s seemingly mystical ability to grow new trunks from branches that touch the ground
• The Yew’s longevity has been known for thousands of years and early Christians across Britain, Ireland, France and northern Spain planted Yews in the churchyards as a symbol of long life and resurrection – and its well-known toxicity also stopped farmers, shepherds and drovers letting their animals wander onto church land.

Yew branches were commonly used instead of palms on Palm Sunday

• In Irish mythology, a yew – the Tree of Ross – is one of the five sacred trees brought from the Otherworld at the division of the land into five parts to bring lasting plenty to Ireland. And in the Book of Lismore – an Irish manuscript from the early 1400s – the age of creation is described in terms of the Yew: “Three lifetimes of the yew for the world from its beginning to its end.”
• According to legend, Pontius Pilate was either born under or played in The Fortingall Yew of Glen Lyon, Perthshire
• From the 4th to the 6th centuries in Ireland, texts were set down in the Ogham alphabet. Comprising letters formed exclusively of straight lines (for ease of carving), it has survived primarily on standing stones. However, it was also used by Druids to inscribe magical spells and incantations onto staves of Yew
• The Scots also fashioned longbows out of Yew and Robert the Bruce won the battle at Bannockburn (1314) with the aid of bows cut from the sacred yews at Ardchattan Priory in Argyll
• Still in Scotland, water drawn from The Yew Tree Well in Easter Ross was believed to have healing powers thanks to the adjacent and eponymous Yew

View Our Recommended Hedges

Box Ball 55-60cm
Quick ViewSelect options

Box Balls, Variable Sizes

Add to Wishlist
Remove from Wishlist
£45.00 – £92.40 inc. VAT
Box cone 90-100cm
Quick ViewSelect options

Box Cones, Variable Sizes

Add to Wishlist
Remove from Wishlist
£52.32 – £79.98 inc. VAT
Quick ViewSelect options

Common Box, Variable Sizes

Add to Wishlist
Remove from Wishlist
£11.94 – £19.19 inc. VAT
Elaeagnus ebbingei
Quick ViewAdd to basket

Elaeagnus ebbingei

Add to Wishlist
Remove from Wishlist
£16.74 inc. VAT
Quick ViewAdd to basket

Elaeagnus ebbingei Limelight 60-90cm

Add to Wishlist
Remove from Wishlist
£21.00 inc. VAT
Euonymus Fortunei Emerald n Gold 5L 25-35cm
Quick ViewAdd to basket

Euonymus Fortunei Emerald n Gold

Add to Wishlist
Remove from Wishlist
£16.80 inc. VAT
Quick ViewSelect options

Euonymus Fortunei Emerald Gaiety, Various Sizes

Add to Wishlist
Remove from Wishlist
£7.49 – £14.34 inc. VAT
Quick ViewSelect options

Beech, various sizes

Add to Wishlist
Remove from Wishlist
£7.97 – £33.00 inc. VAT
Quick ViewSelect options

Purple Copper Beech Various sizes

Add to Wishlist
Remove from Wishlist
£9.60 – £47.94 inc. VAT
Griselinia Littoralis Variegata 10L 60-90cm
Quick ViewSelect options

Griselinia littoralis ‘Variegata’, Variable Sizes

Add to Wishlist
Remove from Wishlist
£19.74 – £39.54 inc. VAT
Quick ViewAdd to basket

Escallonia Macrantha 45-60cm

Add to Wishlist
Remove from Wishlist
£14.94 inc. VAT
Privet ligustrum ovalifolium
Quick ViewAdd to basket

Privet-Ligustrum ovalifilium 60-90cm

Add to Wishlist
Remove from Wishlist
£19.14 inc. VAT
Hedge Xpress

The Great Old Yews of BritainPrevious post
The difference between English and French LavendersNext post

Recent Posts

  • Pittosporum tenuifolium flower arangments
  • Why buy a hedge?
  • Bare Root, Rootball vs Container
  • Why Evergreens Are a Great Option for Hedges
  • Winter Hedges: Part 1

Archives

Categories

  • Evergreen Hedging Plants
  • Fragrant foliage
  • Gardens
  • Green management
  • Hedging Plants
  • Latin Horticulture Terminology
  • Native Hedging
  • News
  • Plant Containers
  • Uncategorized
  • Wildlife
  • Winter Weather Hedges
Hedge-Xpress-Logo
  • Buckland Road, Bampton,
    Oxfordshire, OX18 2AA
  • info@hedgexpress.co.uk
  • 01993 850979

SOCIAL CONNECT

facebookinstagrampinterest

OPENING TIMES

  • Monday-Friday 9am until 4pm
  • Closed Bank Holidays
  • The company will not be operating from 23rd December 2021 until 4th January 2022

COMPETITIVE PRICES AND VALUE FOR MONEY

Delivery options are available for orders over £180.00. For more information please click here. For orders under £180.00 a free click and collect service is available. 

Professional gardeners, landscapers and other trade customers are welcome.

TRADE ENQUIRIES

Professional gardeners, landscapers and other trade customers are welcome. Contact us at info@hedgexpress.co.uk or call 01993 850 979.

USEFUL INFORMATION

  • About
  • Landscaping
  • My Account
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map
©2021 Hedge Xpress. All Rights Reserved. Payment Method
Planting packs now available
Click here to order