Trysting Tree
Encyclopedia
Trysting trees are those trees of any species which have through their individual prominence, appearance or position been chosen as traditional or popular meeting places for meetings for specific purposes. Names, dates, and symbols are sometimes found carved on the bark, favouring trees with smoother bark, such as beech, hornbeam and sycamore.
Many other forms of landscape features have served as trysting places, such as the Lochmaben Stone
on the Scotland - England border that was a well known, well recognised and easily located 'marker' on the Scottish Marches and as such it performed a number of functions prior to the Union of the Crowns, such as arrangements for truces, exchange of prisoners, etc.
the word meant an appointed station in hunting. It is likely from an Old Norse
source sharing its origin with 'traust', and the Modern English
'trust' (and thus also related to the Old English 'treowe' which survives as the modern 'true').
A trysting day is an arranged day of meeting or assembling, as of soldiers, friends, lovers and the like.
and his merry men. In the 1845 version of the story, Maid Marion and Robin Hood
are buried together under their 'Trysting Tree.' Scott's Ivanhoe
and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The White Company
make several references to trysting trees.
A poem by Macaulay.
In Sir Walter Scott
's Waverley the large decaying trunk of a Trysting tree lies on Tully-Veolan moor and is still used as a meeting place.
The 'Colliers' Oak' near Dailly
in Ayrshire was the meeting place of the Laird of Dalquharran and the local colliers regularly met to discuss business matters.
The 'Great Yew of Ormiston
' was recognised as a local landmark as early as the 15th century. In 1474 records show that the Earl of Hopetoun met here and signed various estate documents.
The Covin Trysting Tree, Bemersyde, Melrose
, Grid Ref: NT 593 334, is a Sweet Chestnut
(Castanea sativa) with a height of 12.6 m and a diameter of 252 cm and is 500–800 years old. The tree has long been a feature of Bemersyde, appearing in many paintings of the house including a sketch by Turner, located in the British Museum, London. The tree is thought to have been planted in the 12th century by Petrus de Haga, making it 800 years old.
Although the original trunk has now died, layers were taken by Earl Haig in the 1950s resulting in several new healthy stems rising from the base. One of the layers, planted about 30 meters from the original, is growing into a fine looking individual. The old rings that can be seen in the branches of the original Covin Tree were once attached to concrete weights which aimed to balance the trunk – in its younger days the tree was twice as high as it is now.
The 'Kissing Beech' is located at Kilravock Castle, Inverness-shire. This ancient 'layering' beech took its name from an occasion when a member of the local lairds family was caught kissing a housemaid under the trees' canopy. It carries the names of many pairs of lovers and symbols of their devotion inscribed in its venerable expanse of smooth bark.
The 'Great Fraser Yew' may be as much as 700 years old and once served as the rallying point of the Clan Fraser members in times of trouble.
Kelso, in the Scottish Borders has a 'trysting tree' which is connected with the annual Common Ridings.
The locally famous trysting place of the 'Three Thorns of Carlinwalk', this being an old name for Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway, are recorded in the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland.
The National Burns Collection holds a cross section of thorn wood from a tree which grew at the Mill of Mannoch, Coylton
, Ayrshire
which was said to be Robert Burns
' "trysting thorn", a romantic meeting place.
One polished surface of the thorn wood reads:
From Burns' poem "The Soldier's Return".
There is a trysting tree to the memory of Robin Hood
, situated in the small wood just off the left hand side of Kiveton Lane on the south exit of Todwick
in South Yorkshire. The "venerable oak" was stated as "great trysting tree in the Hart-hill Walk" which was, in earlier times, a private road owned and maintained by the Dukes of Leeds, and now forms that part of Kiveton Lane between the Rectory glebe land and Kiveton.
On the sandy heath of Barnhamcross Common in East Anglie used to be a pine tree about which curious customs have gathered. Called variously the Trysting Pine, Kissing Tree or Wishing Tree, the trunk had twisted and curled itself into a loop not far from the ground. One tradition said that a person had to pull off or knock down a single fir cone, hold it in the right hand, place one's head through the loop and make a wish. Another version told that couples must hold hands through the loop, then kiss and pledge undying love, hoping the tree would bind them to it with its magic.
In America the San Juan Capistrano 'Trysting Tree', a sycamore, has a tragic history of one notorious Tiburicio Vasques, who used San Juan Capistrano and this tree for his gang's own purposes. The gang used the tree as a base to meet and divide up the spoils after a raid, secure food, and then head for the hills to hide out. Vasquez was quite active in this area. His gang raided pueblos, stole cattle, and even held up the Seely and Wright stage coach that traveled between Santa Ana and San Diego.
The Trysting Tree at Oregon State University
, in the USA, is a large Gray Poplar
(Populus × canescens) located southeast of Benton Hall, and was a popular gathering spot on campus. According to one story, George Coote, a faculty member in Horticulture, planted the tree between 1880 and 1885. An early alumnus claimed that the Trysting Tree was so named because of its "magical effects on students, especially in springtime". The tree's popularity was such that the Board of Regents felt obliged to place two arc lights on the cupola of Benton Hall (then the administration building) "to keep the tree from being overworked". On September 27, 1987, the original Trysting Tree was cut down because of advanced disease in its trunk and limbs. Prior to its removal, Jack Stang (Department of Horticulture) took several cuttings from the tree and rooted them. One these "off shoots" (Trysting Tree II) was planted in 1982 near the original tree.
A poem, published in 1908, entitled The Trysting Tree, begins:
Many other forms of landscape features have served as trysting places, such as the Lochmaben Stone
Lochmaben Stone
The Lochmaben Stone is a megalith standing in a field, nearly a mile west of the Sark mouth on the Solway Firth, three hundred yards or so above high water mark on the farm of Old Graitney in Dumfries & Galloway in Scotland. Map reference: NY 3123 6600. The area is also known as Stormont...
on the Scotland - England border that was a well known, well recognised and easily located 'marker' on the Scottish Marches and as such it performed a number of functions prior to the Union of the Crowns, such as arrangements for truces, exchange of prisoners, etc.
Etymology
A 'tryst' is a time and a place for a meeting, especially of lovers. In Old FrenchOld French
Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...
the word meant an appointed station in hunting. It is likely from an Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
source sharing its origin with 'traust', and the Modern English
Modern English
Modern English is the form of the English language spoken since the Great Vowel Shift in England, completed in roughly 1550.Despite some differences in vocabulary, texts from the early 17th century, such as the works of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible, are considered to be in Modern...
'trust' (and thus also related to the Old English 'treowe' which survives as the modern 'true').
A trysting day is an arranged day of meeting or assembling, as of soldiers, friends, lovers and the like.
History
Many trees have through their isolation, appearance or position been chosen as popular meeting places for young courting couples, soldiers called to gather at a distinctive venue prior to battle, etc. Many a romantic story features trysting trees, including the tales of Robin HoodRobin Hood
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
and his merry men. In the 1845 version of the story, Maid Marion and Robin Hood
Robin Hood
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
are buried together under their 'Trysting Tree.' Scott's Ivanhoe
Ivanhoe
Ivanhoe is a historical fiction novel by Sir Walter Scott in 1819, and set in 12th-century England. Ivanhoe is sometimes credited for increasing interest in Romanticism and Medievalism; John Henry Newman claimed Scott "had first turned men's minds in the direction of the middle ages," while...
and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The White Company
The White Company
The White Company is a historical adventure by Arthur Conan Doyle set during the Hundred Years' War. The story is set in England, France, and Spain, in the years 1366 and 1367, against the background of the campaign of Edward, the Black Prince to restore Peter of Castile to the throne of the...
make several references to trysting trees.
A poem by Macaulay.
In Sir Walter Scott
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
's Waverley the large decaying trunk of a Trysting tree lies on Tully-Veolan moor and is still used as a meeting place.
Scotland
The 'Auld Yew Tree of Loudoun' was a place where the Earl of Loudoun, colleagues and advisers met to discuss drafts of the Treaty of Union with England in 1603; it was also the tree to which Lord James of Loudoun addressed letters to his 'gudewife' during his exile in Holland.The 'Colliers' Oak' near Dailly
Dailly
Dailly is a village in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is located on the Water of Girvan, south of Maybole, and east of Old Dailly. "New Dailly", as it was originally known, was laid out in the 1760s as a coal-mining village...
in Ayrshire was the meeting place of the Laird of Dalquharran and the local colliers regularly met to discuss business matters.
The 'Great Yew of Ormiston
Ormiston
Ormiston is a village in East Lothian, Scotland, UK, near Tranent, Humbie, Pencaitland and Cranston, located on the north bank of the River Tyne at an elevation of about 276 ft....
' was recognised as a local landmark as early as the 15th century. In 1474 records show that the Earl of Hopetoun met here and signed various estate documents.
Melrose, Scotland
Melrose is a small town and civil parish in the Scottish Borders, historically in Roxburghshire. It is in the Eildon committee area.-Etymology:...
, Grid Ref: NT 593 334, is a Sweet Chestnut
Sweet Chestnut
Castanea sativa is a species of the flowering plant family Fagaceae, the tree and its edible seeds are referred to by several common names such Sweet Chestnut or Marron. Originally native to southeastern Europe and Asia Minor, it is now widely dispersed throughout Europe and parts of Asia, such as...
(Castanea sativa) with a height of 12.6 m and a diameter of 252 cm and is 500–800 years old. The tree has long been a feature of Bemersyde, appearing in many paintings of the house including a sketch by Turner, located in the British Museum, London. The tree is thought to have been planted in the 12th century by Petrus de Haga, making it 800 years old.
Although the original trunk has now died, layers were taken by Earl Haig in the 1950s resulting in several new healthy stems rising from the base. One of the layers, planted about 30 meters from the original, is growing into a fine looking individual. The old rings that can be seen in the branches of the original Covin Tree were once attached to concrete weights which aimed to balance the trunk – in its younger days the tree was twice as high as it is now.
The 'Kissing Beech' is located at Kilravock Castle, Inverness-shire. This ancient 'layering' beech took its name from an occasion when a member of the local lairds family was caught kissing a housemaid under the trees' canopy. It carries the names of many pairs of lovers and symbols of their devotion inscribed in its venerable expanse of smooth bark.
The 'Great Fraser Yew' may be as much as 700 years old and once served as the rallying point of the Clan Fraser members in times of trouble.
Kelso, in the Scottish Borders has a 'trysting tree' which is connected with the annual Common Ridings.
The locally famous trysting place of the 'Three Thorns of Carlinwalk', this being an old name for Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway, are recorded in the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland.
Robert Burns
Robert Burns writes of a trysting tree (see below) at the Mill of Mannoch at Coylton in Ayrshire. A new hawthorn tree was planted on the site and iron railings placed around it. This tree still survives (2011).The National Burns Collection holds a cross section of thorn wood from a tree which grew at the Mill of Mannoch, Coylton
Coylton
Coylton is a village in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is located east of Ayr, and west of Drongan, on the A70. Sundrum Castle Holiday Park is located to the west of the village, in the grounds of Sundrum Castle, which partly dates to the 13th century...
, Ayrshire
Ayrshire
Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...
which was said to be Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
' "trysting thorn", a romantic meeting place.
One polished surface of the thorn wood reads:
From Burns' poem "The Soldier's Return".
England
Robin Hood
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
, situated in the small wood just off the left hand side of Kiveton Lane on the south exit of Todwick
Todwick
Todwick is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 1,637, and contains a primary school and a nursery, "Todwick Early Years". Todwick also is home to one pub, The Red Lion, and a church...
in South Yorkshire. The "venerable oak" was stated as "great trysting tree in the Hart-hill Walk" which was, in earlier times, a private road owned and maintained by the Dukes of Leeds, and now forms that part of Kiveton Lane between the Rectory glebe land and Kiveton.
On the sandy heath of Barnhamcross Common in East Anglie used to be a pine tree about which curious customs have gathered. Called variously the Trysting Pine, Kissing Tree or Wishing Tree, the trunk had twisted and curled itself into a loop not far from the ground. One tradition said that a person had to pull off or knock down a single fir cone, hold it in the right hand, place one's head through the loop and make a wish. Another version told that couples must hold hands through the loop, then kiss and pledge undying love, hoping the tree would bind them to it with its magic.
America
The Trysting Tree at Oregon State University
Oregon State University
Oregon State University is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees and a multitude of research opportunities. There are more than 200 academic degree programs offered through the...
, in the USA, is a large Gray Poplar
Poplar
Populus is a genus of 25–35 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar , aspen, and cottonwood....
(Populus × canescens) located southeast of Benton Hall, and was a popular gathering spot on campus. According to one story, George Coote, a faculty member in Horticulture, planted the tree between 1880 and 1885. An early alumnus claimed that the Trysting Tree was so named because of its "magical effects on students, especially in springtime". The tree's popularity was such that the Board of Regents felt obliged to place two arc lights on the cupola of Benton Hall (then the administration building) "to keep the tree from being overworked". On September 27, 1987, the original Trysting Tree was cut down because of advanced disease in its trunk and limbs. Prior to its removal, Jack Stang (Department of Horticulture) took several cuttings from the tree and rooted them. One these "off shoots" (Trysting Tree II) was planted in 1982 near the original tree.
A poem, published in 1908, entitled The Trysting Tree, begins:
Miscellaneous
The American 'Trysting Tree' painting by Asher Brown Durand in 1868, was of a courtship spot, "where the Hudson winds to sea".Sources
- Egan, Pierce the Younger (1846). Robin Hood and Little John or The Merry Men of Sherwood Forest. London : George Peirce.
- Love, Dane (2009). Legendary Ayrshire. Custom : Folklore : Tradition. Auchinleck : Carn Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9518128-6-0.
- Maxwell, Sir Herbert (1896). A History of Dumfries and Galloway. Edinburgh : William Blackwood & Sons.
- Rodger, Donald, Stokes, Jon, et. al (2006). Heritage Trees of Scotland. The Forestry Commission & The Tree Council. ISBN 0-904853-06-3.