Is this a yew tree?

Hi guys, I found this tiny little shrub like plant in my garden before, is it a yew tree that maybe I cut down to the ground with electric trimmers last year without noticing??

 

Yes I'm certain yew have yew there:WINK1:

 

Thanks I thought it was but was not sure if it was something that looks like it. I have been trying to learn more about trees lately especially yew, and have been wondering all over England to look at them and then I find one right outside my back door :D

 

I have not no it looks nice though although think I prefer the wild overgrown look :D

 

Hydrogen, this is my Yew I planted two years ago, an upright one that grows to approx. 6ft.

 

That's nice :D

I think I will remove the surrounding shrubs as it grows but then I'm guessing they don't grow very fast I'm hoping it will grow back a little faster though as it is not a seedling it has quite a thick little stump with new growth emerging but It's blocked out by other plants atm

 

My Yew has grown eighteen inches , so they are not that slow.

 

I was in northumberland a few weeks ago, buxton I think not really sure to be honest. Was walking. There was just fields everywhere and farms and a big hill I walked up. When I got to the top there were what I think were yew trees. Loads of them they looked amazing I was not expecting to find what looked like a really old bit of forest on the top of a hill in a farmers field full of sheep.
Forgot to take a picture though was so busy exploring lol

 

It used to be thought that the Yews in churchyards were planted there in medieval times to keep the poisonous trees away from grazing animals.

But some years back a chap did a lot of research into the age of Britains churchyard yews and found them to be a lot older than that. They are difficult to get a complete dendro date from as they tend to rot away in the middle, but they date back as far as 2000 years.

The Yew groves were sacred places before the churches, the Romans had a policy of absorbing local Deities rather than destroying them so the sacred groves were kept and eventually the churches were built on the same sites.

 

That's interesting Ziggy

Makes a lot more sence than the old theory too :D

 

Thanks Marley have bookmarked that one will come in very handy for planning walks and tons of info on there :D