trees
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Well, Hallowe’en is nigh, a time when we like to shiver and squeal, so here is a dark legend to set those shivers and squeals in motion. It happened at the end of the 14th/beginning of the 15th century among the dense trees of Nannau Park near Dolgelly/Dolgellau, the county town of Merionethshire (now Gwynedd).…
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Today, 16 October, in 1987 something happened that most of us who are old enough will remember very clearly. Overnight we’d endured the raging of a terrible storm (see here, here and here). The resultant destruction of property and trees meant that Sevenoaks in Kent no longer had its famous seven oaks! In the…
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William Rufus died because of a tree? But which tree? And where was it….?
“Princes”, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Cernunnos, Charles II, Earl de la Warr, executions, Gundestrop Cauldron, Malmesbury Chronicle, Margaret Murray, New Forest, pagan rituals, propaganda, Richard III, royal hunting estates, Rufus Stone, Sir James Tyrrell, trees, Walter Tirel, Westminster Abbey, William IICharles IIeems to have specialised in “supposed” records. We all know he’s responsible for That Urn, the contents of which are “supposedly” those of Richard III’s nephews. The fact that there are animal bones in there as well as human is always passed very quickly. So quickly the point has become a blur! As a…
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When it comes to yew trees (European variety – taxus baccata, picture from the Woodland Trust) the British Isles are very well endowed, not only with thousands of fine specimens, but hundreds of fine ancient specimens. Who hasn’t noticed the yew trees that grow by our parish churches? It’s said they’re a remnant of pagan…
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Well, if the above painting (left) really is “Charles Spencer….the younger brother to late Princess Diana” I’m impressed by his complete dedication to his subject, Charles II! Talk about entering into the spirit of things! 😁 I look forward to the ultimate film but am rather more enthusiastic about Steve Coogan’s earlier film about the…
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Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri sparkypus.com THE ANCIENT OAK TREE KNOWN AS THE ‘ELIZABETH’ OAK. With thanks to Spitalfieldlife for this photo. In the words of Sir John Howard, Duke of Norfolk, Richard III’s loyal friend, I get as ‘wode as a Wilde bullok‘ when I read yet another tedious reference to Henry VIII…
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Well now, apart from the old nursery rhyme, “Here we go round the mulberry tree”, what else do we know about the history of mulberries in England, except that the colour “murrey” is a contraction of the name? Here is a link (that contains other links) to tell you all about it, including that Shakespeare had…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 