No proof here but a few interesting points. Whether Churches were built near Yew Trees or subsequently planted are both correct. The Yew tree was sacred to the Druid practices and many churches at the outbreak of christianity were built on the sacred druid ground, as such they , the yew trees, were already there. Other myths involved planting the yew trees in churchyards so that the branches could be made into bows. This is cobblers as you are aware how slow growing Yew trees are. Also bows werent made from branchwood but from the main trunk and required a section about 1 and a half inches by three quarters, about five and a half foot long, of straight grain without knots or twists. You know the yew and you'll know that is pretty rare. Most bow making yew was actually thieved from France or traded. One of the suspected main reasons that Yew was associated with religions is to do with safe passage of the dead to the next world. Elm was used as coffins to preserve the body longer as it was less susceptible to rot, and Yew repelled foxes who were in the habit of digging paupers graves. These graves were normally only two feet deep and the dead were buried in cloths as there was nothing to buy a coffin with. The expression "six feet under" represents not only the fact that someone was dead, but they were of reasonable wealth as the gravediggers were paid by the foot, paupers being buried two feet down. The Yew kept the foxes from having a big mac. The popular myth is that Yew trees kept away the evil spirits, a further perpetuation of the unearthly horrors that crossing the church could bring upon you. Control by fear. The reality that the body snatcher was actually a fox rather than some force from the other side.
