Yew Boxes

There is a yew (Taxus baccata) tree growing in the churchyard at Fortingall in Perthshire that is thought to be between 2,000 and 5,000 years old, and which is possibly the oldest living thing in Europe. Yew trees have long been associated with ancient religions and there are several examples of churchyard yews estimated at around 2,000 years old. From the age of these trees it is clear that they existed long before the churches were built, indeed some of them predate Christianity itself. One theory is that churches were built near yew trees to help encourage converts from the old to the new religion.

St Helen’s church in the Derbyshire town of Darley Dale is home to another ancient yew, which illustrates the point. Estimated at 2,000 years old and growing only a few feet from the church door, there is archaeological evidence of several more ancient settlements in the area around the tree. The small Cotswold town of Stow-on-the-Wold was founded in the 11th century and the 11th-century parish church of St Edward’s boasts not one but two yew trees, made remarkable in this instance by their position rather than their age. They stand like sentinels watching over the church door, but their buttressed roots must one day endanger the building and presumably they will then have to be removed. Until then they make a sight to behold – Christianity comes to middle-earth.

The church of St Oswald’s in Grasmere, in the heart of the English Lake District, has no less than eight yews. Not ancient giants these, nor planted in unusual positions. The eight, all relative youngsters as yews go, have the distinction of being planted by William Wordsworth in 1819, in an attempt to improve the church’s surroundings. Probably the best known use of yew was in the production of longbows, which were traditionally made from staves selected to contain both heartwood and sapwood along the length of the bow. The heartwood was positioned on the inside and the sapwood on the outside of the bow. The heartwood resists compression and the sapwood is strong in tension.

These properties make a yew bow difficult to pull, but swift to spring back, sending the arrow fast and far. The longbow was, and still is, a very powerful weapon, and it was largely the skill of English bowmen that contributed to our success in battles such as Crecy and Agincourt. For bow-making, all the natural defects that are common in yew must be avoided, and only very straight grained timber is suitable. As a result, the manufacture of longbow staves is very wasteful, and the demand for medieval bows led to a serious decline in the number of mature yew trees. They were depleted all over Europe, and this was partly responsible for the change from longbows to muskets as weapons of war, which occurred between about 1545 and 1595. Churchyards seem to have been exempted from the search for ‘weapons-grade’ yew trees.

Yew is one of the most beautiful of our native English woods. The heartwood varies from pale orange-brown to mid-brown, sometimes stained red or purple by iron. The sapwood is a pale creamy white, often accompanied by shades of grey at the boundary with the heartwood. Both heartwood and sapwood work easily, sand well and take a high polish. Used for furniture and decorative woodware, it is an excellent wood for turning.

Making yew boxes

When sketching shapes for boxes, decide whether or not sapwood will be included. The ‘pebble’ design is so simple that the sapwood contrast is likely to increase the visual attraction of the box, whereas the other designs are more formal, and a patch of sapwood would dominate the piece, leading the eye away from the primary design features of shape or texture.

Plans & Equipment

Equipment Used Parting tool Bowl gouge Spindle gouge Superglue Small scraper 240–400 grit abrasive papers Sanding sealer Skew chisel Rotary tool with square-ended cutter Wire brush or abrasive discs 3mm bead forming tool.

The ‘church window’ box

Texturing

The set of finished boxes should look something like this.

Further reading