To paraphrase one of my uncles, Showing a church in Hertfordshire: When you see an old English parish, There'll be yews in its yard, for sure.
"Why the yew?" I obviously asked. They were planted, he said, to stop A resting-shepherd's sheep chewing-up The parish-graveyard's gardened top:
Odour tells them - choose another crop. (But another thought, I've since heard, Is that churches were built near yews - Sacred-sites the pagans preferred.)
P.S: with England's Bonfire Night near, please remember to check for hibernating hedgehogs before burning; and you may like to hear "Cob-a-Coaling" on my myspace player (via above link).