Old Yew Tree trouble.

Yews are pretty much invulnerable to most ills, except for Phytopthora - this can cause die back, but does attack the main trunk, usually near the base, as well. You could try peeling back a bit of the bark at the base to see if there's a reddish or blackish-brown discoloration, but if it is phytopthora, there is no cure other than removing the affected plant and then improving drainage in the area.
As there's not much you can do about it anyway, think I'd be inclined to hope its just drought (although, if your tree is large and old, I'm not sure how likely that would be) and see how it goes next year.

I think it would have to be a server drout, with it being old it must of well and truly reached the water table, trees do have a life span, how longe for a yew, I dont know, but it won't be as longe as a redwood, Bamboo is proberly right

do you know how old it is? some live for 100's of years. the erratic rain patterns coud have caused 'drought shock' some months ago and you are only seeing the effects now.
You could send a sample off to the rhs pathology sectin for a proper id. they do charge for this service but i dont know how much it is now.

I don't know if I should even mention it, but yews are not strictly vegetarian that is why you see them in church yards, so could the trees be short of sumthing in there diert

lol Cliffo - but remember, plants don't much care where their nitrogen and micronutrients come from, as long as they get them, and that's all plants, not just Yew

I have no doubt that you are right, I just remberd doing a job in sutch a place ,the lads called me to were they were diging abuot four feet down they thort that they had found a boddy but what it was was fine roots from the trees in the perfact shape, and since then when I see people talking over there loved one's on TV I allways think they should be talking to the tree's I hope that I do not upset anyone with my comment's ,I don't intend too

Didn't upset me, Cliffo and you're right, I think the largest percentage of Britain's yew trees are, in fact, in graveyards, or what were once graveyards. Don't know why they're so popular in graveyards though, but I do know they seed themselves readily - I must have pulled out hundreds of seedlings in the 30 years of gardening I've done.

I do! They were planted there years ago because they were considered sacred - and they were supposed to keep evil spirits away.

Also, the wood was used for longbows - and as people knew that the trees' parts were toxic to animals, they planted them in enclosed areas where the animals couldn't eat them...i.e. graveyards!

by gum you spit a bib full there,.SH you raked up most of my histre lessons and of corse you are conpleatly right adgincoar and all that well' dun

Well - you can tell I was a teacher in my past life, can't you, Cliffo. :-)

Well that's interesting, Spritz - I must admit I used to read novels at the back of the class during history lessons, so no wonder I didn't know that, if we were ever taught it.

I am ashamed to say that I failed History at 'O' level, Bamboo.Who wanted to know about 19th C laws and the Industrail Revolution? Not me!

It was much later that I got interested. Now with our historic home, I find it fascinating!

Yes, it is more interesting the older one gets - might be our own proximity to becoming history that causes that, perhaps?

to be honest I allways had the opion that history was a frode, the written history about this or that genral winning battles I wanted to know about the (gun fodder)the ordernary soldger ,but the writing was paid for by these genrals so it was written to suit them, but when I got older I read books about the cotton industry in Manchester and the docks of Liverpool ect' and that pushed in to doing a degre in socioecology which I found fasernating,but I had forgoten about were the two finger salute came from