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Wishing Trees / Coin Trees

Nosmo King

Nosmo King

I'm not a cat
Joined
Jan 10, 2021
Messages
7,499
Can anyone shine any light on why this tree is studded with coins?

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WeeScottishLassie said:
Is it in Scotland? I think they have something like that there. A bit like throwing pennies into a well for good luck. But I'm probably wrong!
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no, this is definitely a thing! I don't know if it's specifically Scotland though.

Same sort of idea as tying rags to a thorn I think?
 
Apparently, they’re called Wishing Trees. If you have an illness, your coin gives it to the tree. If you take a coin, you get an illness.

According to beliefs that date back to the beginning of the 18th century, one could rid herself of an illness by sticking a coin into a wishing tree so that the tree would assume the illness. If a person pulled one of the wishing tree’s coins out, he would become ill. Others thought that they would be granted a wish once the coin was driven past the bark and into the tree’s wood.
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https://allthatsinteresting.com/great-britain-wishing-trees
 
Frideswide said:
no, this is definitely a thing! I don't know if it's specifically Scotland though.

Same sort of idea as tying rags to a thorn I think?
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There's a tree stump in Happy Valley in C****r that's similar .. 2p coins pushed into it but only a few so far. I'll try to get a photo of it and post it here. (no sarcasm intended .. there actually is one).
 
Souleater said:
Can anyone shine any light on why this tree is studded with coins?
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There's one of those at the top of the Fairy Glen at Rosemarkie on the Black Isle in Scotland. I went there with my father, walking the dog, in 2004 - it was quite a lovely spot. We have a thread on here about places that are unaccountably creepy; the Fairy Glen is, for no good reason that I could ascertain, just the opposite.

From Trip Advisor.

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ETA: and, yeah, I left a coin - not because I was ill, but just for luck.:cool:
 
CALGACUS03 said:
There's one of those at the top of the Fairy Glen at Rosemarkie on the Black Isle in Scotland. I went there with my father, walking the dog, in 2004 - it was quite a lovely spot. We have a thread on here about places that are unaccountably creepy; the Fairy Glen is, for no good reason that I could ascertain, just the opposite.

From Trip Advisor.

View attachment 37114

ETA: and, yeah, I left a coin - not because I was ill, but just for luck.:cool:
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Yes, this is the one I was thinking of :D
 
There is a tree nearby covered in shoes for some reason.
 
Aaah ok well you can't kill em if they're already dead.
Except zombie trees I guess.
 
Frideswide said:
indeed :) and rags to just about any shrub near healing wells
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Yes, I was on holiday on the Black Isle when I visited the Fairy Glen, and it was on the same holiday that I visited the clootie well at Munlochy (also on the Black Isle). I've posted about my feelings regarding the latter somewhere on here before.

Found it here.

By contrast, the Fairy Glen felt quite serene and welcoming. If I hadn't been with my father at the time I would have liked to just sit down and enjoy the ambience for a while.

David Plankton said:
I think it's only possible with dead trees.
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Yes, the tree was (long) dead, and must have washed over the falls during quite a spectacular flood. When you first see it it resembes almost a piece of sculpture; with the ridges of hundreds of coins sticking out all over it.
 
An interesting article from JPMA (Journal of Post-medieval Archaeology), although not from their site.

https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n30a19.html

If you have access you can get the whole thing here

https://www.academia.edu/14114026/Small_Change_Economics_and_the_coin_tree_in_Britain_and_Ireland

Abstract:

Throughout the c.2000 year period coins have been circulated in Britain, they have also been ritually employed, most notably as votive deposits. Focusing specifically on the understudied custom of the British coin-tree, whereby coins are ritually embedded into the barks of trees, this paper considers the coin’s role and applicability as a deposit. It aims to demonstrate that our understanding of the coin’s past, present, and future ritual employment is not only aided by a consideration of economics and the coin’s secular function; it would be utterly incomplete without it.
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I fully support the use of the word ritual in this context! :rollingw:
 
The trees with embedded coins (coin trees) are one among the different types of wish trees.
A wish tree is a tree, usually distinguished by species, location or appearance, which is used as an object of wishes and offerings. Such trees are identified as possessing a special religious or spiritual value. Postulants make votive offerings in hopes of having a wish granted, or a prayer answered, from a nature spirit, saint or goddess, depending on the local tradition. ...

Coin trees
One form of votive offering is the token offering of a coin. Coin trees are found in parts of Scotland, Northern England, and Wales.[1] Folklorist Ceri Houlbrook observed actions at a coin tree in Aira Force, Cumbria, noting that a succession of at least twelve families passed by the site and decided to hammer coins into it using a piece of limestone lying around; she commented that this custom appeared to offer "little variation: it is imitative, formulaic, homogeneous".[2] In 2019 the National Trust for Scotland said 'For many years people have hammered coins into tree stumps and trunks as some sort of votive offering to make a wish. On our woodland properties we could tolerate it as long as it was on a small-scale, but now it seems to have taken off as a ‘fashionable’ thing to do and is out of control.' ...
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wish_tree
 
We used to have a pub called The Wishing Tree, closed long since, used to be in Wishing Tree Road, very close to where I grew up(was left to go feral more like).
Did come across an old Yew tree with 2p bits hammered in it, wandered past it a few years later and it was dead !. First time I saw the tree I was tempted to cut a brach or two for bow staves, bloody well should have as it soon died after.
Have also seen coins hammered into public footpath styles,could have been land bounderies, heard rumours it's for wealth.
 
I’ve occasionally seen it in the woodwork of old pubs, especially in the oak surrounding old fireplaces.

maximus otter
 
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