have you ever tried to break yew staves yourself?

i beleive your comment is unjustified and you seem to regurgitate the first thing that youve found.
fuck man, the archers for the english kings(mostly welsh archers by the way) fucked up most military campaigns for throne hunters (including the scots as well as the french) by their well documented use of this bow. if the bows were that shit, do you really beleive that even today, bowmen would give their right arm for a stave of yew.

as i said, the irishyew is no different to the common/english yew except for its growth shape, and fact, it was used for longbows, the fact that none remain on show doesnt prove a thing.

also to note, you cant carbon date an yew correctly, as the relly old growth has rotted away, so technically, all that remains would be a few hundred years growth. it regenerates itself and grows on old wood. what you see would not have been there 2000 years previously