The Bleeding Yew
I saw recently an odd botanical event about which some superstition hangs. On either side of the approach to the old, old church at Nevern in Pembrokeshire are a number of yews which have had to be lopped at various dates. One of the maltreated boughs has bled ever since. At one date the liquid is the colour of champagne, at another of claret. A resident near the church has watched the phenomenon for 30 years, and the occurrence was old when he came to live there. When I saw it, the appearance was of a pool of blood under the lopped end of the bough. Trees as a rule are so clever at healing their own wounds that the continuance—on a still healthy tree—is hard to account for. Not only botanists find the place unique. The church has a stone (with an inscription in the Irish language) dating from the sixth century, and in the churchyard stands one of the best of the rare Saxon crosses. All this is set in one of the most scenic districts within this island.
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