What I find compelling, and paradoxical, about these distinctively-individual, slow-growing yew trees, situated on the northern edge of the Brecon Beacons mountain range in South Wales, is the way their surfaces give the impression of rapid, dynamic growth. Recent research suggests that many are around 2,000 years old, and a few as old as 3,000 years. Planted and venerated by the Celts, it is believed the trees mark sacred places of worship and burial grounds that the early Christians appropriated. Evidence on every tree of lopping and pruning attest to the fact that these trees have co-existed humans for generations, surviving the often savage constraining of their natural growth.