The Glastonbury wounded holy thorn tree has hit the headlines throughout the world recently.
Glastonbury is a wonderfully strange old place. Legend has it that Joseph of Arimathea arrived here with twelve disciples. Standing on Wearyall Hill, he struck his staff into the ground and it took root and grew the branch and blossom of a hawthorn tree. Cuttings have been grafted through the ages to perpetuate its life. A handful of descendant thorn trees grow in the town.
One such thorn tree grows in the grounds of St Johns church. Traditionally on December the 8th a sprig is cut by the oldest pupil of the nearby school and sent to the Queen to decorate her Christmas dining-room table.
The tree itself is a variation of the common hawthorn and comes from the middle-east. The posh name is crataegus monogyma ‘biflora’ or ‘praecox’. It is unusual in that it flowers twice during the year, at Easter and at Christmas.
Many have tried without success to grow it from seed or cuttings but only cuttings grafted onto common hawthorn stock seems to work. Curiously, it seems that if the grafted tree is taken away from Glastonbury it quickly reverts back to its original root-stock.
Some fifty years ago another descendant of the original tree was planted on the original site of Wearyall Hill and became popular with pilgrims to this area who would leave tokens of worship attached to the tree.
However, residents of Glastonbury were horrified to find the tree reduced to a stump with its branches cut off and left discarded on the ground. Who could have done such a thing? Was this just an act of wanton vandalism? What on earth was going through his or her mind whilst the green branches were sawn down?
This is not the first time that a Holy Thorn tree growing on this site has been vandalised. During the English Civil War the tree growing then was cut down by Puritan soldiers. The tree was saved by locals taking root cuttings and propagating the tree later.
Wearyall Hill belongs to Edward Jones who was arrested recently in connection with the collapse of Crown Currency Exchange leaving 80,000 creditors owed £16 million. One thought is that the tree was vandalised as an act of vengeance.
Some have placed the blame on the Illuminati or the Bilderburg group whilst others believe it to be the work of good-old-fashioned flying saucers from outer space.
Katharine Gorbing, the curator of the town abbey said that: ‘the vandals have struck at the heart of Christianity’.
Meanwhile, local residents have dressed the wounds of the tree with pine resin and beeswax and wrapped the tree with cloth to protect from the frost.
Thorn trees are remarkably resilient and tough and this act of vandalism may serve as a form of pollarding which actually extends the life of the tree.
One hopes that the tree will sprout back to life next year. The Christian faith is a rugged old religion. And hope springs eternal!
to read more of my journal please click here to watch a beautiful youtube of the tree please click here
Comments
I've read about this recently Mike and thanks for adding this blog post.
Putting the religious aspects to one side, I'm always saddened to see old tree damaged or removed.
Here's your video...looking at the tree, it would seem it would shoot from the cuts next spring (provided the shock isn't too great).