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“Some of these hawthorns have been around for five thousand years. They die back, spring up, die again and come back, but it’s all from the same root. Five thousand years!”

from Kurt Jackson A New Genre of Landscape Painting – A Day with Kurt Jackson by Philip Marsden.

 

This hawthorn must have witnessed the building of Bronze Age hut circles, the introduction of farming four thousand years ago and tin streaming. No wonder hawthorn trees were once known as sacred trees that would bring ill luck if injured. It was also thought to be a gathering place for fairies. People would hang clothing rags upon it and believed prayers or cures would be answered by the time the rags had rotted away.