The twisted weird Tree in Scotland....

[Spectral Morn]

Hi Guys

As mentioned in the Grand Wazoo's thread here is the tree..... Cue sinister music....










Regards D S D L

[The Grand Wazoo]

That looks like an old Yew tree, funnily enough(in relation to you guys getting your kicks writing horror stories) some country folk won't use that as firewood and refer to it as 'Devil's Wood'!

[Mike]

I've got some speakers made out of that stuff. I'm a bit worried now!

[John]

In the heath near me there one tree which has a face and another that looks like it has a body transformed into it.There is another tree which you can climb into but unable to even suggest its shape!

[The Grand Wazoo]

The reason that there are so many Yews in British churchyards is quite interesting actually, and only vaguely related to religion as we know it today.

Yews are evergreen trees and, therefore, often the only green tree for miles in winter was a Yew. So they became places for gathering and presumably carrying out pagan worshipping as they were an obvious sign of hope for spring coming soon. The churches were simply built in the traditional places of worship so they came long after the trees were there.

Of course, almost every part of a Yew tree is poisonous, so if you eat one, chances are you're in the right place! The pharmaceutical industry is now extracting 'Taxol' from Yew leaves as a cancer treatment.

The timber is fantastic and valuable, with colours ranging from pure white to jet black, through brown, orange & purple and wild grain patterns - it's often so hard & dense and strong in all directions that you can machine it like steel.

[Mike]

Of course, almost every part of a Yew tree is poisonous

I wasn't actually considering eating my speakers... I'm pretty sure I won't now though!

Fantastic grain pattern... they do look tasty mind.

[Marco]

I love old graveyards, gravestones, and the ancient trees often living within - it conjures up all sorts of disturbing images...

Incidentally, who's watching 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning' on C4 later at 11.10pm?

Marco.

[SP10]

WHAT a weird lot you are! Being a newbie I suddenly feel at home. Just like Ireland when I was a child.

Surely the yew was in church yards to supply wood for bows? All of this Pagan nonsense seems to me to be similar to the tricking of weak people into believing that they are experiencing 'far- memory of previous existence'. Don't kid with me - remember I was there!

Seriously though, the tree in the pic is absolutely superb. It gives a feeling of continuity with a more noble past.

(Just noticed that I am a 'junior' member! Makes me feel invincible now that I approach a 70th birthday!)

[The Grand Wazoo]

Surely the yew was in church yards to supply wood for bows?

Actually, this is a common misconception. English Yew was very often too knotty for use as bows. Knotty wood will shatter if it's stressed and English bows were the first to have extreme draw-weights for long range & power. Most of our Yew wood was imported from Spain or Italy (depending on who we were at war with at the time!) and was it was a condition that anyone bringing wine into the country had to also bring in a comensurate quantity of Yew. The trees grown there were forest grown so had fewer branches and, therefore, less knots because of the shady conditions. Because of the high price, many English bows were actually made of Elm, which is strong because of it's interlocking grain.

Trust me, I'm a forester!!

Our firepower with longbows was pretty formidable, far more so than any other army - an arrow from our bows could pierce armour and still have the power to do it's job at 200 yards - It could go through 4 inches of seasoned oak at that distance (you try banging a nail into solid oak & you'll see what an amazing feat that is). A good archer could put put one through a man's visor at that distance.

Apparently, at the battle of Agincourt, there were 5,000 English archers. At a rate of fire of 8 arrows a minute (and the best could loose off 20), that means they could fire off 40,000 arrows per minute - 666 arrows a second! Johnny Foreigner didn't stand a chance!!

[Spectral Morn]

What an interesting discussion. I have been working on the next part of THE STORY.... so missed this.


Regards D S D L