'There are bodies beneath these trees'

"It's a very beautiful, very peaceful place," said historian Emily Jessica Turner.

"There's a real sense of the ancient here."

She was speaking to BBC Secret Sussex in Kingley Vale - one of Britain's most atmospheric and storied landscapes.

The nature reserve, just north‑west of Chichester on the South Downs, is best known for its yew forest that reportedly contains some of the oldest trees in Europe.

"The trees here really are something," Turner said. "They're so impressive."

But Turner said the yews - some of which are up to 2,000 years old - are also "very significant" in folklore.

"Trees come up an awful lot in the stories we tell each other," said the historian.

"They're thought to be connected to other spiritual planes."

The roots especially are said to be linked to the underworld, she continued.

Turner said the yew trees at Kingley Vale are the markers of Viking graves.

"Below my feet in the cold earth are the bodies of Viking leaders who were slain in battle - forevermore rest in the earth," she told BBC Secret Sussex.

Turner explained marauding Danish invaders came to Sussex a millennium ago to try and conquer the area.

However, she said that the locals "fought back so strong and fiercely" that hundreds of Vikings were killed.

"Their bodies were left among the yew trees near Bow Hill and laid to rest there."

Turner says four large barrows upon the hill - known locally as the "devil's humps" - are the tombs of the great Viking leaders who were slain in battle.

"As you might expect for an area with such a bloody history, the land is stalked by the ghosts of those who died in the battle here," Turner continued.

She says some people say there are also spirits of druids who would "worship with the landscape".

But she says her "favourite part" of the local stories about Kingly Vale is that the trees would come to life and walk around as if they were people.

"It is a wonderfully spooky idea," she said.

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