Information Classification: PUBLIC

HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL ASPECTS OF TREES

Ann Reynolds Senior Archaeologist Countryside Advice Historic Environment Service Council Information Classification: PUBLIC

• Trees as historical features • Introductions • Trees as indicators of past land use • Use of timber • Trees on historic maps • Place names • Trees in literature and art • Myth and folklore Information Classification: PUBLIC Trees as historical features

‘Yews, Oaks and Ashes can survive to around a thousand years, forming living connections between the third and first millennia AD - between us and the Vikings, and everyone between’. P Herring Information Classification: PUBLIC FORTINGALL YEW - 5000 YEARS OLD? Information Classification: PUBLIC CORNWALL’S OLDEST TREE - Darley Oak, c.1000 years old Information Classification: PUBLIC Arrival of non-natives

Romans: Sweet chestnut 16th century: Holm Oak Early 17th century: Horse chestnut 17th century: Manna ash 18th century: Silver lime Information Classification: PUBLIC SYCAMORE

1282 – St Frideswides Shrine, Oxford Cathedral, carving of a Sycamore 1597 – ‘a stranger in England, only it groweth in walkes and places of pleasure of noble men, where it especially is planted for the shadowe sake and under the name of Sycomore tree’ 1664 – its leaves ‘which fall early, like those of the Ash, turn to mucilage and noxious insects, and putrefy with the first moisture of the season, so as they contaminate and marr our walks’ It should be ‘banished from all curious gardens and avenues’.

17th/18th Century Cornwall, popular in the gardens and churchyards of clergy Information Classification: PUBLIC MORE RECENT INTRODUCTIONS

Late 18th, 19th century boom in plant collecting, especially from America

Mid 19th and early 20th century saw many Japanese and Chinese introductions

Monkey Puzzle tree first introduced from Chile c1795, but attempts to propagate new plants were unsuccessful and remained rare until it was reintroduced in the early 1840’s by Cornishman William Lobb, when it became the ‘must have plant’ Information Classification: PUBLIC CONTINUING THE TRADITION OF FIRSTS:

TregothnanWollemi Pine – 2 million year old tree from Australia – first in Britain and first in Northern hemisphere to produce cones Information Classification: PUBLIC TREES AS INDICATORS OF PAST LAND USE Information Classification: PUBLIC Pollarded chestnut at Ethy Information Classification: PUBLIC Charcoal TREE LINED BOUNDARIES - ST ERNEY Information Classification: PUBLIC USE OF TIMBER Information Classification: PUBLIC

• Oak – valued for its strength, hardness and durability, so the wood of choice for buildings and boats. Also said to produce the best charcoal and best bark for tanning leather • Elm – durable under water: drain/water pipes, sluices, boats (wood of choice for Cornish Gigs), troughs, piles under bridges, stalls, bins, coffins, ‘poor man’s oak’ around the house. However, makes a poor firewood • Beech – also for sluices and piles due to durability in waterlogged conditions, shoe soles and furniture • Ash – valued for its toughness and elasticity: carts, wagons, fencing, handles, staffs, billiard cues, hockey sticks, cricket stumps, oars • Willow – baskets of all kinds and cricket bats • Lime – used for close carving and particularly musical instruments Information Classification: PUBLIC EARLY PREHISTORIC MONUMENTS: STONEHENGE – FIRST PHASE 5000 YEARS AGO Information Classification: PUBLIC ORNAMENTAL PARKS AND GARDENS Information Classification: PUBLIC RESTORMEL DEER PARK 13TH CENTURY, DISPARKED 1542 Information Classification: PUBLIC EYE CATCHERS AND CLUMPS Information Classification: PUBLIC EYE CATCHERS AND CLUMPS Information Classification: PUBLIC LANHYDROCK ORNAMENTAL PARKLAND Information Classification: PUBLIC FEATURE TREES - INDIVIDUALS Information Classification: PUBLIC Trees and historical sources - maps Information Classification: PUBLIC ORDNANCE SURVEY Information Classification: PUBLIC Information Classification: PUBLIC Information Classification: PUBLIC Information Classification: PUBLIC Information Classification: PUBLIC Information Classification: PUBLIC TREWARTHENICK 1793 Information Classification: PUBLIC TREWARTHENICK Information Classification: PUBLIC PLACENAMES

• dar and glastan for oaks (Treglasta) • elaw for elms (?Crellow, ? Trevelloe, etc) • lusew for ashes (Ludgvan) • faw for beech () • kelin for holly (Kelynack, Treskilling, Pencalenick, etc) • heligen for willow (Heligan, Penhellick, Treleggan, etc) • guern for alders (Gwarnick, Penwarne, etc) • coll for hazels (Trescoll, Fentongollan, etc) • bedewen for birch (Bissoe, Treveddoe, Lambessow, etc) • In addition there are place-name elements derived from kunys, ‘firewood’ (Kenidjack) and trech, ‘cut wood’ (Botrea) Information Classification: PUBLIC Placenames

NAME ELEMENTS TRANSLATION DATE CORNISH OS.REF ENGLISH

REDRUTH Selligan Rid + Heligen Ford + Willow Tree 1291 C SW 693 403

Sparnon Spern Thorn 1884 C SW 700 415

Tolgus Tal + Cos Brow + Wood 1280 C SW 691 423

Tolgus Vean Tal + Cos Brow + Wood 1429 C Lost

Tolgus Mill Tal + Cos Brow + Wood 1469 C Lost

Trengweath Tre + Gwyth Estate + Trees 1460 C

Treleigh Wood 1748 C SW 440 700

St KEVERNE Guilly Kelli Grove 1312 C SW 784 194

Lanarth Lanherch Clearing 1260 C SW 766 212

Penhallick Pen + Heligen Head / End + Willow Tree 1826 C SW 765 182

Roskilly Ros + Kelli Moor + Grove 1200 C SW 753 203

Spernic Cove Spern Thorn 1888 C SW 750 160

ST ANTHONY / MENEAGE Bod + Onnen Dwelling + Ash Tree 1086 C Boden

Higher Boden Bod + Onnen Dwelling + Ash Tree 1250 C SW 771 241

Boden Vean Bod + Onnen Dwelling + Ash Tree 1419 C SW 770 237

Gillybold Kelli + ? Grove + ? 1884 C SW 781 250

Gillywartha Kelli + Guartha Grove + Summit / Upper 1813 C SW 780 247

Lanarth Lanherch Clearing 1524 C SW 769 246

Tendera Dar Oak Tree 1302 C SW 780 258 Information Classification: PUBLIC Trees in art Information Classification: PUBLIC Information Classification: PUBLIC WERRINGTON PARK 1716 Information Classification: PUBLIC PENNANS 1846 Information Classification: PUBLIC

PENNANS C1880 Information Classification: PUBLIC PENNANS 2005 Information Classification: PUBLIC Folklore and legends Information Classification: PUBLIC INDIVIDUAL SPECIES - YEW

•The yew came to symbolise death and resurrection in Celtic culture

•According to ancient traditions, the evergreen yew acted as shelter for the first Christian missionaries in the UK before the building of their churches. This probably accounts for the large numbers of yews that are found in churchyards – including the ancient Fortingall Yew.

•The yew is also believed to be a sacred symbol of life and was sometimes scattered over graves.

•Often planted outside houses to give shelter from the wind but also magical protection to the house Information Classification: PUBLIC INDIVIDUAL SPECIES - OAK

Perhaps because of the oak's size and presence, much of its folklore concerns specific, individual oak trees. In Leicestershire the Topless Oaks in Bradgate Park were said to have been pollarded as a sign of mourning following the beheading, in 1554, of Lady Jane Grey who had lived at the nearby Bradgate Hall. After the battle of Worcester in 1651 King Charles II hid from the Roundheads in a large oak at Boscobel. In 1660 he instigated the 29th of May as Royal Oak or Oak Apple Day to celebrate the restoration of the monarchy. Many parishes used to contain what became known as the Gospel Oak, a prominent tree at which part of the Gospel was read out during the Beating of the Bounds ceremonies in spring. In Somerset stand the two very ancient oaks of Gog and Magog (named after the last male and female giants to roam Britain), which are reputed to be the remnants of an oak-lined processional route up to the nearby Glastonbury Tor. The Major Oak in Sherwood Forest is purported to be the tree where Robin Hood and his Merry Men hatched their plots Information Classification: PUBLIC INDIVIDUAL SPECIES - ELM

Size and shape made them distinctive landscape features – often used as meeting or preaching places, as well as the Dartmoor dancing trees

Hampstead Elm – 17th century hollow elm, had staircase inside leading up to a platform that seated six or held 14 standing Information Classification: PUBLIC DANCING TREES Some old veteran trees in the centre of villages on Dartmoor are ‘dancing trees’. Dancing trees were considered to be sacred and revered by the local villagers, they were the focal points of fairs and dances were held around their base.

In Moretonhampstead dancing was said to have taken place of the crown of the tree, a pollarded elm with a clipped flat top, surrounded by poles with a platform built into the canopy. On the top chairs and tables were set and feasting took place and up to 30 people could be accommodated. Information Classification: PUBLIC INDIVIDUAL SPECIES - HOLLY

•Well known associations with Christmas and also as representing Christ’s crown during the crucifixion

•Holly planted beside a house would keep witchcraft and lightning away

•Said to have protective qualities, with the felling of whole trees bringing bad luck. Farmers would leave a holly untrimmed in a hedge. They also used the distinctive tree to help with lines of sight when ploughing

•Leaves used as winter feed for livestock, some farmers having holly grinders to make the prickly leaves more palatable Information Classification: PUBLIC THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!

For further information on the archaeology of Cornwall go to: www.cornwall.gov.uk/historiccornwall

And to see c1880 Ordnance Survey maps: www.maps.nls.uk

Recommended reading: ‘The Englishman’s Flora’ Geoffrey Grigson, 1955, reprinted 1987