Janet Baraclough.. expounded:

It may be hard for Americans to imagine this, but there are countless
ancient native trees all over the UK, whose individual location and the
role they played in history has been recorded for many, many hundreds of
years. Trees used as property markers were recorded in the Domesday book
in 1086. Far earlier than that, many were protected for their religious
significance (particularly, hawthorns and yew).

It's not hard for this American to imagine it, I've seen it. One of
my fondest memories of my trip to southwestern England was my early AM
walk through the New Forest (forgive me, but I think it was somewhere
near Tourquay. Being England, of course, the forest was anything but
new, it was ancient, the feeling I got while walking through there I
doubt I'll ever experience again. Then (my memory is going) I was a a
Norman abbey, outside of which was an 1100 year old yew that was
hollow in the middle. They kept it short over the centuries by using
the branches for arrows. The age of things I saw over there awed me.
And I also saw plenty of native plants between the gardens we visited.
Seemed a pretty complete ecosystem to me!

--
Ann, Gardening in zone 6a
Just south of Boston, MA
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