Country diary: this ancient yew should live for ever

Church Preen, Shropshire: The tree in the graveyard has been rejuvenating itself for centuries. But the law needs to do more to protect such living monuments

Evening sunlight reaches through the dark branches of the yew tree, animating sinuous shapes moving through its hulk like conjugal creatures. A bell chimes the quarter hour, but time means nothing here. A sign at the foot of the trunk reads: "This Yew Tree is believed to have been planted [in] approx 457 AD and thought to be the oldest tree in Europe."

The Church Preen yew is one of Shropshire's most celebrated trees but, although at least 1,500 years old, it is probably not the oldest yew. It stands in the graveyard above a church that was once part of Wenlock's 12th-century abbey; it has been suggested that the tree was a sacred legacy of local pre-Christian culture Christianised by the siting of a chapel beneath it in Saxon times.