At Easter some 1600 years ago, Llanarmon DC, a remote places in the mountains of North Wales became known as the first church in terms of a Christian gathering under one roof. Few however know it was actually not the roof of a building but a sheltering roof, made from interwoven yew branches known as ‘Frondibus Contexta’. St. Garmon (or Germanus), who seems to have been a duplicitous character fetched up at Llanarmon Dyffryn on a mission from the Church in Rome, to put down the Pelagian heresy but actually on a mission of his own to contact Pelagius himself, one of the last Druids, for knowledge and secret meetings. Germanus was possibly led to this sacred and ancient yew site by Pelagius himself. He would never have found it without a guide. Here Garmon’s men were hastily baptised in the river, just 100 yards away, prior to taking part in an Easter service under the yews in the equally hastily built yew church. Here they were blessed and made ready for battle with an advancing army of Picts and Saxons. The battle, if it could be called one, was soon over and became known as the Hallelujah Victory, as the singing of Hallelujah by Garmon’s men, echoed around the high mountains leading the opposition to believe they faced a massive army! Many of the terrified Picts and Saxons drowned in the river that day, in their attempt to get away, weighed down by heavy swords and weapons. Garmon’s preaching mound, otherwise known as a Bronze Age barrow in the churchyard adjacent to the 2 yews, is still there and the 2 massive and very impressive ancient yews, one a rare monoecious yew, bearing both sexes, stand close enough together to be able to see how the branches of the male and female yews could have been joined and woven together into a shelter. Some 20 miles away Llanarmon Yn Iaol, has the official title of first church in Britain but with no sign of ancient yew trees ever having been here, or a river, or a ‘valley enclosed by steep mountains’ as history describes the site of this Easter victory, this is simply the wrong place and the accolade has migrated.

I hope to give a new date for presenting the petition to Parliament soon and am sorry for any inconvenience caused in postponing it. Thankyou all so very much for all your help and support in standing up for the rights of  the Tree of Life. The Countryman magazine has a 5 page article on Yew Conservation and our Campaign out now. Please keep signing and sharing the petition.