The common or English yew tree (Taxus baccata) whilst native to Britain, is also found across much of Europe, western Asia and North Africa but why does every Churchyard have a yew tree? The answer could because of druids, cadavers, the longbow or perhaps protectionism.
Druids
According to the label on a yew tree at Kew Gardens, the Druids regarded the yew tree as sacred and planted it close to their temples and other places of worship. Early Christians often built their churches on these consecrated sites, and so the association of yew trees with churchyards was perpetuated.
In August 1993, The Times reported that a yew tree in the churchyard at Coldwaltham, West Sussex, had been confirmed as one of the oldest trees in England … probably planted around 1,000 BC by Druids.
Cadavers
Jennifer Chandler suggests that yew trees were planted in graveyards because they thrived on corpses and Robert Turner, writing in 1644, suggested that yew trees absorbed the vapours produced by putrefaction.
The Longbow
The longbow (so called because it is 6’ in length) is made of yew. The volume of yew wood needed for war archery from the early 13th to the late 16th century was far too great to be supplied by from trees grown in churchyards. After all of the yew stands in Britain and Ireland had been depleted, the English crown began to import yew wood from all over Europe including Austria, Poland and Russia. When Elizabeth I decreed on October 26, 1595, to replace the military longbows with firearms, she did so because there was no tradable yew wood left in the whole of Europe! Not because firearms were superior. On the contrary, even at the time of the battle of Waterloo, almost 200 years later, firearms still were no match for the fire speed and precision of the yew longbow.
Protectionism
The bark, the leaves and the seeds of yew trees are highly poisonous to cattle, horses, sheep and other domestic livestock as well as people, especially children; only the red fleshy seed covering is not poisonous, hence yew trees were planted in churchyards so that common folk did not graze their livestock on Church land.
Yew contains toxic alkaloids collectively referred to as taxines. Taxol is a cancer medication, derived from taxine, that interferes with the growth of cancer cells and slows their growth and spread in the body. Taxol is widely used to treat breast, lung and ovarian cancer.