The Fortingall Yew is an ancient European yew (Taxus baccata) in the churchyard of the village of Fortingall in Perthshire, Scotland. Considered one of the oldest trees in Britain, modern estimates place its age at an average of 5,000 years.[1]
Some estimates put the tree’s age at between 2,000 and 3,000 years; it may also be a remnant of a post-Roman Christian site and around 1,500 years old.[2] Others have suggested an age as great as 5,000 to 9,000 years. Forestry and Land Scotland consider it to be 5,000 years old.[1] This makes it one of the oldest known trees in Europe.[3] (The root system of the Norway spruce Old Tjikko in Sweden is at least 9,500 years old.[4]) The Fortingall Yew is possibly the oldest tree in Britain.[2]
The Llangernyw Yew ([ɬanˈɡɛrnɨu] ⓘ) is an ancient yew (Taxus baccata) in the village of Llangernyw, Conwy, North Wales. The tree is fragmented and its core part has been lost, leaving several enormous offshoots. The girth of the tree at the ground level is 10.75 m (35.3 ft).[1]
This yew tree lives in the churchyard of St. Digain’s Church in Llangernyw village. Although it is very hard to determine the age of yew trees,[2][3] the churchyard gate holds a certificate from the Yew Tree Campaign in 2002, signed by David Bellamy, which states that “according to all the data we have to hand” the tree is dated to between 4,000 and 5,000 years old.
You can get tree protection orders for single or groups of trees. I have a feeling you can make an application to get them protected without them being on your land.
“To me they are as important as any ancient monuments. There has to be a protection put in place. > At 1000 years old, they are ancient monuments.
It looks like the UK has some drastically-older yews.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortingall_Yew
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llangernyw_Yew
You can get tree protection orders for single or groups of trees. I have a feeling you can make an application to get them protected without them being on your land.