If millénaire de Saint-Ursin

Saint-Jean-des-Champs

The yew occupies the centre of the former village, facing the Romanesque porch of the church. Its trunk, nearly ten metres in girth, is hollow, and adventitious roots descending from inside give it a second framework; one enters its cavity as into a small chamber. It is estimated at a thousand years by the intangible cultural heritage inventory record, without scientific dating. According to a tradition reported by Wikipedia after a personal web page, it was planted by settlers from Great Britain in the time of the Vikings, heirs to a Celtic respect for the yew, tree of the dead and of immortality; a first chapel is said to have risen at its foot in the 12th century, of which the church would keep the porch, dated to the 11th–12th centuries by the inventory record. The latter, more cautious, does not rule out that an ancient cult of the tree was redirected towards the church, but no early source describes it. What is certain is the ritual still alive: in the church, a statue of Saint Ursin is invoked against children's convulsions attributed to intestinal worms, and parents, on leaving, sometimes discreetly send the child to curl up in the hollow of the yew, as if to complete the prayer. The tree, which showed signs of decline in the 20th century, lost a large branch in the storm of February 1990 and gained from it a renewal of vitality; it is alive, cared for by the commune, awarded the Arbre remarquable de France label in 2000, and a cutting from it was planted the same year with the help of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle.

Wikipédia — If millénaire de Saint-Ursin ↗

Getting there : The hamlet of Saint-Ursin is signposted from the D 924 (to be checked) between Granville and Villedieu-les-Poêles; the yew is in the centre of the village, in front of the church, freely accessible at any hour. One can stand inside the hollow of the trunk. The church opens at service times or on request to the town hall of Saint-Jean-des-Champs (to be checked before setting out).

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound