Morning bimble with my daughter

[crosslandkelly]

Went for a walk up on Harrow Weald common for a few of hours today with my daughter, it was nice to spend some quality time with her, before she goes back to uni on Saturday.
The weather was cold windy and damp, but the rain held off for us. As soon as we entered the woods the wind dropped to almost nothing, making ideal conditions for us to wander and chat,
The common is mainly Broad leaf woodland, Beech, Downy Birch and Oak, but there are also some Yew and Redwoods. Holly and bracken and Rhododendron are the main under canopy plants. The common is also the site of Grims Dyke, part of a 3 mile iron age earthwork, and where WS Sullivan (of Gilbert and Sullivan fame) lived and the house took it's name.
Thanks for looking.
Pic Heavy.

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Photo shy daughter.

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Dead Birch.

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Nice Polypore growing on it.

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Most of the trees have many Burls on them.

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Any guesses to this fungus?

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Chutulhu Beech.

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A young Yew.

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Sir Williams House.

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The house has an interesting history, but now a hotel.

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One of the Redwoods.

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Lady Gilberts orchard, recently cleared and replanted.

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A gnarly Beech.

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Puffball? They were about the size of an apple.

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Hotel guests, why?

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View from the carpark across Wealdstone, to Harrow on the hill.

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[Dark Horse Dave]

And very nice too Colin! Good to spend a bit of quality time like that.

 

[Mesquite]

The years I used to drive past those woods and never stopped off for a bimble.

Thanks for sharing yours with us Colin

 

[crosslandkelly]

Funny how you can take things on your doorstep for granted.

 

[Leshy]

Nice bimble , very curious pictures there... Particularly the one with all the 2p pieces in it
..
The hotel guests one is not showing for me but the coins one from above (or from underneath) is and it's odd?
What do you reckon that may be ?
I've seen barbed wire fence straight through the middle of the tree bole but that is odd...

Looks like a nice area though
..👍

 

[crosslandkelly]

Haha. No, that is the hotel guests pic, it seems to be good sport to hammer coins into that fallen tree, there was a half brick close by. They do have a lot of weddings there, maybe it's a custom.

 

[Mesquite]

The coins in the tree is a wish tree

 

[crosslandkelly]

Thanks for the info Steve.

 

[Toddy]

That looks like a very good wander
You're right, we do often overlook what's right on our doorsteps.
The tree is quite a common thing in some places (or was), as are cloutie wells….with scraps of fabric and ribbons tied to a nearby tree.
Pre the days when ordinary folks had coinage, those in pain would cut out the shape of their afflicted part and hammer that onto trees. I can't prove it because I don't think any have every been found/recorded, but I was told that wood, horn, bone, shell and leather were used and affixed through with a thorn into the bark, too. Metal is relatively recent in our history, but special place and trees have been long venerated.

The sad thing is that the copper in the coins eventually kills the trees.

Sorry for the ramble, Colin but thank you for sharing your walk

M

 

[Leshy]

Ha ! I get it now ...Thanks everyone ...
😊

I have seen the wish trees and offerings in trees as described above, like ribbons , corn dollies etc , especially near pagan worship sites near me (Avebury, Silbury Hill, west Kennet long barrow and the sacred spring at swallow head springs near Avebury) .
Many of the trees are beautifully decorated by the vast number of offerings and gifts hanging on the branches...
Just never seen the coins stuck on the bole 😊

It sounds like it's a dead tree anyways so no problem there... Interesting stuff👍
Thank you for clarifying.

PS -love the redwood tree too 👍👍

 

[Klenchblaize]

Sadly I can no longer get my 14-year old Daughter to tag along on woodland adventures be they with or without rifle. Not even if allowing her to get mud all over a £90 pair of Nike trainers and the promise of outdoor cooked eggs & bacon!

K

 

[crosslandkelly]

That looks like a very good wander
You're right, we do often overlook what's right on our doorsteps.
The tree is quite a common thing in some places (or was), as are cloutie wells….with scraps of fabric and ribbons tied to a nearby tree.
Pre the days when ordinary folks had coinage, those in pain would cut out the shape of their afflicted part and hammer that onto trees. I can't prove it because I don't think any have every been found/recorded, but I was told that wood, horn, bone, shell and leather were used and affixed through with a thorn into the bark, too. Metal is relatively recent in our history, but special place and trees have been long venerated.

The sad thing is that the copper in the coins eventually kills the trees.

Sorry for the ramble, Colin but thank you for sharing your walk

M

Thanks for that info Mary, I'd heard of and seen offerings hung from and left in trees, but never coins hammered into them.

Sadly I can no longer get my 14-year old Daughter to tag along on woodland adventures be they with or without rifle. Not even if allowing her to get mud all over a £90 pair of Nike trainers and the promise of outdoor cooked eggs & bacon!

K

I know what you mean mean Klenchblaize, that was the first walk in the woods we had had together since she was 15, she turned 21 on Sunday. Things change, be patient.

 

[Wayne]

If you take a wander around Tarr Steps on the river Barle in Somerset. You will find a glade with thousands of coins hammered into branches and logs. It's seem like the tradition has been going on for a very long time there.

 

[Rich D]

If you take a wander around Tarr Steps on the river Barle in Somerset. You will find a glade with thousands of coins hammered into branches and logs. It's seem like the tradition has been going on for a very long time there.

From Exmore for all website, so it's been going a while there any way. It's a trend that seems to be spreading in the UK, not particularly keen on it myself.

The wishing tree is studded with coins, hammered in by villagers and tourists with the help of stones. People used to believe that sticking a coin into a wishing tree would pass an illness to the tree – and onto the person who pulled the coin out again. The custom goes back to the beginning of the 18th century; one of them, an oak wish tree in the Scottish Highlands, gained fame when Queen Victoria visited it in 1877.

 

[Toddy]

I suspect it's very much older than that. Wells and trees, pools and bogs have a very long history of ritual deposition in this country.

M

 

[crosslandkelly]

[M]odern man is just ancient man…with way better electronics. ~Author unknown, "A Short History of Breakfast," from a Jack in the Box tray liner, 2006