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5 5 1 1 2 2 0 0 N Y M A 2 2 2 2 30 Years R R E E of Protection T T 1 1 N N I I 1985 – 2015 W W E E U U S S S S I I ) ) A A S S M M Y Y N N R R ( ( N N O O I I O O T T A A I I C C O O O O S S S S A A S S R R M M O O O O M M E E E E R R I I H H H H S S K K R T R T O O Y Y H H F F T T R R O O N N O O E E ◆ H H BOTANY – THE OAK AND THE ASH T T ◆ F F WILLIAM SMITH – THE FATHER OF ENGLISH GEOLOGY (PART 2) E E O O ◆ THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS E E ◆ N N ALFRED JOHN BROWN: C C I I Z Z I I WALKER, WRITER AND ‘MOORSMAN’ A A G G ◆ STANBROOK ABBEY: SIX YEARS ON... A A ◆ MEMORIES OF A MOORLAND CHILDREN’S HOME O M O M E E ◆ CROSSWORD H H V T V T ◆ HAWKMOTH – NATURE NOTES NYMA – TO PROTECT AND ENHANCE THE CHARACTERISTIC BEAUTY OF THE NORTH YORKSHIRE MOORS FOR PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS BOTANY THE OAK AND THE ASH Following some wonderful autumn leaf colour this year, we now hedges and field boundaries. On and around the North York see the bare bones of trees and the two most common of our trees, Moors oak and ash can be found as mature species by roadsides or the oak and the ash, have quite different shapes. The oak has a on remnants of old boundaries, the ash, but not the oak, also as solid, thick, rough trunk with horizontal branches supporting a younger trees in hedgerows as they will survive regular cutting large dense rounded crown while the grey elegant trunk of the ash, where the oak won’t. Both occur in woodlands, in the dales and only creased and furrowed with age, sends sweeping branches dale sides with some old and venerable oaks in the Helmsley area tipped with tight black buds upwards towards the sky. and dotted around the moors where they have survived conifer planting and cutting, even though some are merely shells. THE ASH – FRAXINUS EXCELSIOR The ash is of the Oleaceae family, and is a fast growing deciduous CHARACTERISTICS tree, the grey branches bearing opposite pinnate leaves which are Both oak and ash are, and have always been throughout history, usually preceded near the branch ends by the petal-less flowers, just important timber trees though with very different characteristics. tufts of purple/yellow stamens and styles. These mature into Oak wood burns very hot and sustainably making it a useful fuel bunches of winged seeds, the ‘keys’ that remain on the trees over for furnaces and charcoal, while ash burns well and steadily even winter before floating off with the wind. when green, a good domestic fuel, probably the best. Oak timber is dense, hard and straight grained, difficult to saw, splits well but THE OAKS – QUERCUS ROBUR & QUERCUS takes a long time to dry and season. Because of its angled branches, PATRAEA well-chosen oak has long been used in house and boat construction There are two common native oaks, as well as for furniture, doors, panelling, Quercus robur or pedunculate oak and and gates. Oak bark has a long history in Quercus patraea or sessile oak in the the tanning industry while the acorns were Fagaceae family. They are both slow greatly valued as a winter pig food. Ash growing deciduous trees with oblong, wood is tough, elastic and flexible, sawing roundly lobed leaves, those of Q. robur and steam bending easily making it useful being unstalked but Q. patraea having for lighter furniture, ladders and wagons, stalked ones but with no basal lobes. The with the coppice poles used for tool greenish yellow catkins, the male being handles, fencing, walking sticks and bows, longer than the female, appear at the same strong, durable and flexible. Its resillience time as the leaves, developing into the and springiness made it ideal for the outer familiar fruit of a cupped acorn, stalked in sections of cart and carriage wheels. Oak, Q. robur but not in Q. patraea, and these because of its strength of compression, was acorns are often distributed and buried by used for the spokes. Cattle and sheep will squirrels and birds as a food source. eat ash leaves as fodder and it was cut in However, these two oak species hybridise the past for this purpose. readily and certainly in our area the oaks show a variable mixture of characteristics. MEDICAL USES In the past and in mythology and uses, the The ash leaves are said to be anti- whole range has usually been referred to as inflammatory, pain killing and a tonic to the same, the English Oak. the immune system and were used for arthritic and rheumatic conditions, while the bitter bark was taken FOLKLORE & TRADITIONS to reduce fevers, lowering temperatures, called the English quinine The oak and the ash are forever joined in our folklore and for malaria. Other more magical cures were attributed to the ash traditions, foretelling the year’s weather as they burst into leaf: especially a tree that had had a live shrew embedded in it or had ‘Oak before ash only a splash, ash before oak in for a soak’ . clefts that children could be passed through. The seed keys were Similarly in our musical heritage: the Mayday song, ‘Oak, ash and pickled to make a relish – I tried it, awful! Thorn’ and ‘The Oak and the Ash and the bonny Ivy tree’ which The astringent bark of the oak, full of tannins, was used to treat tells of a northern maid’s longing for her homeland, the ‘Ash diarrhoea, dysentery, haemorrhoids and wounds, and as a gargle Grove’ of loss and mourning, ‘Hearts of Oak’, of bravery and for mouth and throat complaints. Acorns can be used as a coffee strength. These mirror the mythology of the trees. Oak, Monarch substitute while a black ink was made from the ‘oak apple’ gall of the Forest, solid, long lived, representing strength, courage and which is caused by a parasitic wasp. protection, while the ash was the Tree of Life, tall graceful, stable, a more restrained power with its branches reaching to the heavens A HAVEN FOR WILDLIFE and its roots deep into the earth connecting the two domains, This is only one of the galls that grow on the oak, reminding us heaven and earth. Both oak and ash trees were revered by most that it is host to up to 500 species of insect as well as fungi, mosses European civilisations, the Greeks, Romans, Norse and Celts, the and ferns. It is also important as a home to a variety of birds and oak representing the Druids ‘Green Man’ and the ash, ‘Yggdrasill’ small mammals. Oak trees are almost constantly under attack but of Norse legends. They were both regarded as protective trees especially against lightning strikes and were often planted round boundaries and both still grow throughout Europe in woods, (CONTINUED PAGE 4) 2 VOICE OF THE MOORS – WINTER 2015 CONTENTS BOTANY PAGE 2 THE OAK AND THE ASH PAGE 4 CHAIRMAN’S FOREWORD NYMA PAGE 5 PRESIDENT’S PIECE Founded 1985 Registered Charity No. 517639 PAGE 6 WILLIAM SMITH – THE FATHER OF ENGLISH GEOLOGY (PART 2) Officers of the Association President Ian Carstairs OBE PAGE 8 Vice Presidents THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS Professor Allan Patmore Ron Foster MBE Chairman PAGE 10 ALFRED JOHN BROWN – WALKER, WRITER AND ‘MOORSMAN’ Tom Chadwick Vice Chairman David Moore PAGE 11 Council Members STANBROOK ABBEY: SIX YEARS ON... Sue Chadwick Ruth Chambers Janet Cochrane Albert Elliot PAGE 13 BOOK REVIEW: MEMORIES OF A MOORLAND CHILDREN’S HOME Ann Glass Shirley Learoyd Colin Speakman AMANUENSIS PAGE 14 Malcolm Watt CRYPTIC CROSSWORD N o 71 George Winn-Darley Elaine Wisdom HAWKMOTH Association Treasurer PAGE 14 Brian Pearce NATURE NOTES 140 Newton Road Great Ayton Middlesbrough TS9 6DL [email protected] Notice of a Hon. Secretary Janet Cochrane The Forge, Fangdale Beck, North Yorkshire, TS9 7LE SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING [email protected] For members of NYMA to approve and accept Membership Secretary Gerald King a new draft constitution 5 Cleveland View, Faceby Middlesbrough, TS9 7DE To be held at the KINGS HEAD HOTEL Kirkbymoorside Tel. 01642 701051 January 27th 2016 at 1.30 pm. Walks Coordinator Heather Mather (Weather permitting) Ainthorpe Tel. 01287 669104 The SGM will be followed by a Council meeting ‘Voice of the Moors’ articles to: Albert Elliot Piper House, 54 Church Street, Castleton, Whitby, YO21 2EL Tel. 01287 660137 “QUOTABLE QUOTE” email: [email protected] Design & Production “My yard is high with wood now, my cellar deep with coal, Basement Press The Old Parsonage, Glaisdale, My windows are well battened, I’ve sealed each crack and hole. Whitby, North Yorks YO21 2PL Tel. 01947 897945 When the winter storms come raging, I will not be touched a all, www.basementpress.com Printed by For I’ll be well protected, when the snows of winter fall.” Camphill Press www.camphillpress.co.uk From When the Snows of Winter Fall, a song by Graeme Miles Articles appearing in Voice of the Moors convey the Front Cover: Winter – When icicles hang by the wall..

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