Kingley Vale, West Sussex: Their trunks have the appearance of flayed muscle and sinew; buttress roots form shadowy hollows at their base and decaying knots have sculpted their boughs
Viewed from the top of Bow Hill, the ancient yew forest appears lush and green, but beneath the dense layered canopy a brooding gloom and silence descends. There is a noticeable absence of bird life and little light filters through the parallel rows of flattened needle-like leaves, so the thin soil of the forest floor is barren. At my feet the downland chalk is stained the dark rust of dried blood by sap and fallen fruit. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records a 9th century battle being fought on Bow Hill between marauding Danes and local Saxon forces. Legend has it that the yews were planted on the graves of the slain Viking warriors.
The yews have been contorted and weathered by centuries of storms. Their trunks have the appearance of flayed muscle and sinew; buttress roots form shadowy hollows at their base and decaying knots have sculpted their boughs. Bark sloughs away in shallow, hematite-coloured scales. Despite the ravages of time, the trees are seemingly immortal. New trunks develop from within the original root boles and root systems sprout from partially severed limbs that rest heavy on the ground. One tree cocoons a seedling in a womb-like cavity formed by its intertwined branches.
It is difficult to establish the exact age of the trees as chicken of the woods fungi have rotted away the heartwood, so there are no growth rings to count. Most are at least 500 years old and the veteran trees found in a grove at the foot of the combe may have stood for 2,000 years, making them some of the oldest living organisms in Britain. There is a long association of yew trees in churchyards, but here in a national nature reserve the yews themselves coalesce to create the sensation of walking through a vast cathedral. Trunks with a girth of five metres or more line the path like pillars, splayed boughs arc overhead and dappled light filters through the crown.