Fortingall Yew (Perthshire)
The Fortingall Yew is between 2,000 and 5,000 years old. Either way, this still makes it the oldest tree in Europe.
Introduction
The Fortingall Yew is an ancient yew (Taxus baccata) in the churchyard of the village of Fortingall in Perthshire, Scotland. Various estimates have put its age at between 2,000 and 5,000 years; recent research into yew tree ages suggests that it is likely to be nearer the lower limit of 2,000 years. This still makes it the oldest known tree in Europe, although there is an older Norwegian spruce root system.
Open all year round at any reasonable time.
History to the present day
The yew's once massive trunk (16 metres, or 52 feet in girth in 1769, of unknown original height) is split into several separate stems, giving the impression of several smaller trees. This is a result of the cutting out of pieces of its wood as tourist trinkets in the nineteenth century and the natural decay of the ancient heartwood, which has reduced the centre of the trunk down to ground level. Other than this the tree is still in good health and may last for many more centuries. It is now protected by a low wall but can still be easily viewed.
The area immediately surrounding Fortingall has a variety of prehistoric archaeological sites including Carn na Marbh, a Bronze Age tumulus.
According to legend, Pontius Pilate was born in its shade and played there as a child.
The venerable yew is being pressed into service by the local Tourist Board who are marketing it as part of "Big Tree Country". The Fortingall Yew is being joined by the Dunkeld Larch (planted a mere 250 years ago, but one of the first of its type planted in Scotland) and the Birnam Oak (the last remaining tree in a wood made famous by Shakespeare) as part of a scheme to improve around 40 forest sites in Perthshire. A "time line" of Caithness slabs has also been set up at Fortingall to put the lifetime of the tree into a historical perspective. These have carvings to illustrate major historical events which occurred during the lifetime of the tree. The illustration here marks the arrival of the Scots (from Ireland), probably around 500AD.
