Llanerfyl Yew

What looks like four yews standing in a circle is reported to be a single tree. The trunks at St Erfyl's measure 10.67 metres around all four together, and DNA work is said to show they are one organism, even though three of the stems are recorded as female and one as male. It has been admired for a long time. Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Wales called it one of the finest yew-trees in the principality, and an account of 1872 named it the mother yew of Montgomeryshire. Its legend is older still. St Padarn is said to have left his staff, Cyrwen, here in the late sixth or early seventh century, and the yew grew from it. The ground beneath it held something real. In 1915 a stone inscribed in the fifth or sixth century was taken from under the tree, and it is now on display inside the church. A low wall circles the yew today. The age you will see quoted, about 1,400 years, rests on the legend and on a blog rather than any measurement, so we call it ancient and leave the number open. If you know of better evidence, tell us. Llanerfyl is a small village on the A458 west of Welshpool, and the churchyard is the reason to stop.