One thing that interests me about very old trees is that, unlike say a stone circle or cairn that was obviously deliberately placed, they are even more enigmatic in their place in the world.
Venerable yews are often found in "sacred" places, which suggests a degree of deliberate intent. But how many of these 100s or 1000s of years old trees are just lucky survivors? Maybe they were self-seeded from bird droppings! Maybe they are the last of a vast forest, and we celebrate them like the Last Tommy or the last Titanic survivor, because they have survived while others of their kind did not.
When the yew at Llangernyw (for example) was a young tree, was it venerated because it had been deliberately grown, or did the veneration come with longevity? It predates the churchyard that surrounds it...
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