Bewitched: Help Ireland's most popular tree get the vote in Europe
reports on how Blarney Castle's famous yew has bewitched onlookers for six centuries
Saturday is the last day to vote for the European Tree of The Year and — wouldn’t you know it — there’s a Cork tree in the running.
Blarney Castle’s Witch’s Yew tree has already won Ireland’s Tree of the Year and is now shortlisted for the European accolade.
The competition is in its tenth year and it aims to highlight the significance of trees in the natural and cultural heritage of Europe and the importance of the ecosystem services trees provide.
ROOT AND BRANCH
The contest is not looking for the most beautiful tree, but for a tree with a story, a tree rooted in the lives and work of the people and the community that surrounds it.
The Witch’s Yew in Blarney certainly ticks all those boxes, when you consider that legend has it that it was that self-same witch which who first told mortals of the Blarney Stone’s magic powers, its ability to grant the gift of eloquence. A message which has travelled across the globe and is now a truly innate part of Blarney.
The oldest part of the grounds at Blarney Castle, believed to be the Druid’s Rock Close — said to be an old druidic site — is now home to features called the Wishing Steps, Fairy Glade the Druid’s Cave and the Witch’s Kitchen and this is where you will find the Witch’s Yew tree.
CENTURIES OF HISTORY
Situated in the Rock Close on the grounds of Blarney Castle Estate, the Witch’s Yew is estimated by experts to be in excess of 600 years old. A folly, the Witch’s Kitchen, was built by the Jeffreyes family under the already existing yew tree in the 1750s as part of the famous Rock Close gardens, the area which is the home of the Blarney Witch.
MYTH AND MAGIC
The witch, imprisoned by day in the Witch Stone, is released after nightfall, only to be banished to the witch stone again at dawn. Some early morning visitors have claimed to have seen dying embers of a fire in her kitchen.
Read that earlier sentence again — the yew is believed to be over 600 years old. Now stop reading for a moment and think about what that actually means. Think about what that tree has lived through in terms of the history not just of Blarney, Cork and Ireland but also in terms of what has happened in the world over the last 6oo years.
I find it fitting that no human gets the credit for planting it for, as the head gardener at Blarney Castle Gardens, Adam Whitbourn, says, “I don’t really see how anyone could have planted it on top of that rock.”
Rather it has just always been there, probably a seed blown in from the wind or in a bird dropping. That bird has long since passed, centuries ago and so to all those who saw it in its infancy.
FINE SPECIMEN
Over the years and particularly important in the present day, this Taxus baccatta specimen, which has to be one of the finest in the world and not just in Europe has sustained and continues to sustain thousands of species. It has become so much part of where it is and it’s network is now so vast that it has created its own little universe.
If there was ever a human that could live for 600 years they would be revered and we would look to them for the secret to eternal life and other such wonders. Perhaps we are looking in the wrong place, why don’t we listen to what the trees have to tell us.
PAST AND FUTURE
This European Tree of the year competition is great because it is highlighting some pretty amazing natural wonders, and shining the light upon trees such as this one in Blarney which is intrinsically linked to our folklore and history and belongs not just to us but to generations past and hopefully many into the future.
Receiving the Irish award, Adam Whitbourn said: “We are all absolutely delighted that the Witch’s Yew has won the Irish tree of the year. It’s an amazing veteran tree with a fantastic story and that’s what the competition is all about.
“Personally, I’m happy to see specimen trees like this getting some recognition, especially in the current climate where such devastation is happening to woodlands around the world. “Trees such as this represent both our past and our future, and it is our duty to look after them. Our tree will now go on to represent Ireland in the European competition and I hope the public will get behind us and vote.”
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