THE OLD - Old Wirral.com

THE OLD CHURCHYARDS OF WIRRAL
Amongst other uses for which the old
trees have been employed is that they
were the meeting place of the council of
the "Hundred," in which case the yew
tree at Eastham may sometimes have
usurped the function of the Wirral stone,
which stands at the corner of the Burton-
Willaston road as it crosses the old Chester
road. Seats were often placed under their
shade, as is evidenced by frequent entries
in the churchwardens' accounts. The
often mentioned statement, that yew tree
branches were carried in the procession on
Palm Sunday in lieu of palm or olive
branches, is borne out in the following
paragraph taken from Caxton's '" Liber
Festivals," 1483:—
" For encheson [reason] that we have
none olyue that berith green leef therefore
we take Ewe in stede of palme and olyue
and beren aboute in procession and so is
thys day callyd palme sonday."
The church porch may be fittingly considered
in this chapter since it was
regarded in olden times as being outside
the building. Thus it was that baptisms
were originally carried out in the church
porch, as no unbaptized person was permitted
to enter the church itself. Later
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