Ye olde wild yew trees

I reacquainted myself with the Ancient Yew Group website when looking up info about the King yew from a recent walk and am conscious that there are a couple of local woodlands with yews that are worthy of recording. So I contacted the Ancient Yew Group (AYG) to enquire if someone experienced in recording yews could assist in recording a number of yews in the Forest of Dean and in early April I met up with Peter Norton of the AYG to guide and assist him in measuring the yews.

A rejuvenating yew with aerial roots growing inside the decaying wood and new wood being laid down. Compass for scale.

The first location has a long history of woodland management, with an association to a 12th Century Cistercian Abbey and the ground flora is indicative of ancient woodland. Within this woodland there are a number of yews growing on a steep escarpment, woodland boundary and on/along earthworks, some of the earthworks could be associated with the Cistercian monks management of the wood. Some yews on the escarpment are hollowed and fragmented, elsewhere the yews mostly appeared whole. Measurements were made of the largest yews and some exceeded the criteria of girth measurement for exceptionally significant trees in a woodland environment, as defined by Toby Hindson of the AYG. A good start to the visit.

Scowles environment 

The second woodland visited was one of the scowles and is postulated as a source of iron ore for a major iron working industry at Ariconium. The iron working activities at Ariconium have been dated to the late Iron Age with a major increase in activity in the Roman age and represent a major site of the iron industry in Britain.

Scowles bedrock outcrops

The bedrock at this scowles location is of Lower Carboniferous age with gently dipping beds of limestone and shale. The exposed outcrops appear to be intimately associated with mineral working activities and there is no sign of modern quarrying techniques i.e drill holes. Some of the bedrock outcrops also display carious weathering, that might indicate prolonged exposure to the elements. Aside from opencast and subterranean iron ore mining, limestone has historically been used as a flux for iron working, tanning, mortar, building stone, lime wash etc. although some of the limestone has dolomitised. There is a high probability for a long history of intermittent mineral working at this location, although no archaeological excavation has taken place.

Yew rooted to a quarried outcrop

The yews are mostly sited on bedrock outcrops and their morphology is varied with trees in varying states of rejuvenation; some are clearly fragments of once larger trees; others are laying down new wood to cover dead wood or close gaps in the trunk; some are sending forth new branches from what otherwise appears to be a dead tree and others are sending down aerial roots. The scowles yews at this location present a stark contrast to the yews in the woodland of the 1st visit and this was where Peter Norton's experience was needed in determining where to measure and how to categorise the trees.

The association of yews and bedrock outcrops

The tale of the tape determined slightly lower measured girth than the first location. Sadly time pressure dictated that only the largest and easily accessible yews were visited and recorded, a pity as some otherwise innocuous looking yews have interesting morphologies. Peter Norton has yet to publish his findings and it will be interesting to read his opinions.