Taxus baccata
Yew
Muckross Abbey, Killarney National Park, Co. Kerry
| | Situation: Individual Tree
Visited and photographed on: 30-Sep-09
Height: 17 m Girth: 3.09 m | Heritage value: | Named tree
Genetic resource for local tree population
A site of religious significance |
The Muckross Friary Yew stands in the centre of the cloisters of the ruined Muckross Friary and is one of the most famous trees in Ireland. An account in the Dublin Penny Journal (Anon, 1833) stated: ‘The stem of this remarkable tree, which there is no reason to doubt is coeval with the Abbey (1448), is upwards of twelve feet in height, and about six feet six inches in circumference. It is preserved with religious veneration by the peasantry; and so awful is the effect produced on the mind by its extraordinary canopy, that many persons shrink back with terror on entering within its precincts, and few can remain long without feeling an impatient desire to escape from its oppressive influence.’
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