The Ankerwycke Yew
‘One tree can become a forest. Please let it begin at Ankerwycke.’ Allen Meredith
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Possibly the site of the signing of the Magna Carta on 15 June 1215, but a detailed
appraisal of historic records, maps etc. would be needed to confirm the theoretical
evidence:
Firstly we could ask the question- what is an estimated 2,500+ year old Yew tree
doing in a relatively flat location, not in a churchyard, but where a convent was
founded in 1160?
It is generally considered that Runnymede (the meadow of the runes/the field of
mystery/the field of council- (Gordon Gyll, History of Wraysbury 1861) was a special
meeting place well before Magna Carta.
An axis mundi- a sacred central focus for the ancient tribes of the area.
Runes have strong connections with Yew trees and would have been consulted at
council by earlier inhabitants of the area.
Although Ankewycke is on the opposite bank of the Thames to present day
Runnymede, it is likely that previous to the land divisions of the past eight centuries,
the larger area then known as Runnymede included Ankerwycke.
Through natural forces of erosion and deposition, together with widening for
navigational purposes; the course of the Thames has been altered several times since
1215, with the main channel centralised around 400 years ago.
Perhaps the most important tree in the English speaking world- The bill of rights
established by Magna Carta formed the constitutional basis of several other countries
in particular the USA.
It is also suggested that Henry VIII met with Anne Boleyn at Ankerwycke.
The tree was taken into the protection of the National Trust in1998.
In 1806 Dr. Samuel Lysons girthed the tree at over 30 feet. The current girth
measurement does not show significant increase; but a description of a hollowing
trunk a century ago has now been superseded as aerial roots have reached ground
level forming a tangle of new internal stems above ground as the tree regenerates
from within. The wood seems almost fluid and has created an awe inspiring natural
sculpture.
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The tree has also layered a branch which is re-inventing the tree further as its
vegetative offspring grows- how do we know that the existing Yew was not formed in
a similar manner from an even more ancient incarnation? The Eternal Yew?
On 15 June 1992, 777 years after Magna Carta a group of people met at the tree with
David Bellamy to make an oath (a green Magna Carta) to protect the world’s wild
places and wildlife. This included ten pledges for protecting all forms of life, granting
them rights and to allow them to ‘live and complete their cycles of life as ordained by
nature’.
There is also an avenue of around 30 Yews nearby- a commemorative planting?
The Ankerwycke Yew is considered to be a deva daru: one of our most ancient
guardians of wisdom and of great spiritual significance.
Yew trees are the tree of life and paradoxically of death, but also through the Nordic
Yew rune as the tree of transformation- thus the circle is completed and the apparent
paradox explained...
Whatever the truth is, it is clear that the Ankerwycke yew is an enigma of both
national and international importance and one of the great treasures of this sceptr’d
isle.
What scenes have pass’d since first this ancient Yew
In all the strength of youthful beauty grew!
Here patriot Britons might have musing stood,
And plann’d the Charta for their country’s good;
And here, perhaps from Runnymede retired,
The haughty John with secret vengeance fired,
Might curse the day which saw his weakness yield
Extorted rights in yonder tented field.
Quoted in Lowe, J. 1897 (P.49) The Yew Trees of Great Britain and Ireland. Macmillan,
London.
References
1. Chetan, A. And Brueton, D. 1994. The Sacred Yew. Re-discovering the ancient tree
of life through the work of Allen Meredith. Penguin, London.
2. Hageneder, F. 2007. Yew: A History. Sutton Publishing, Stroud, Glos.
Chris Knapman, Ancient Tree Forum. 4 June 2015