s once stood. Again, this is located at an altitude of nearly 1,500ft which although no problem for an Ash tree is high for an oak.
There are several local dialect words for the oak tree; Chitjack, Cups and Saucers, and Oak-mas and plenty of folklore concerning the tree. In Celtic times the oak tree was worshipped as being the embodiment of the god Teut. In the old Celtic calendar there were 13 months which was measured from one full moon to the next. The oak tree gave its old name of Duir to the period which ran from June to July. Later the oak was regarded as a symbol of Tarnawa who was the god of thunder. The most common and association with the tree was the sacred oak groves of the Druids and this manifests itself at Wistman’s Wood. Here it was thought the ancient rites and rituals of the sacred order were carried out. As the centuries passed much of the woodlands were felled which left individual oak trees standing prominent in the landscape. These individual trees then became an integral part of local tradition and custom. This gave rise to several distinct types of oak trees such as;
Shire Oaks – oak trees which marked the boundaries of shires
Cross Oaks – a stone cross and an oak placed at crossroads, ie Hawson’s Cross
Gospel Oaks – oak trees on the parish boundary where gospels were read during the beating of the bounds.
Bull Oaks – large, hollow trees where livestock could shelter.
Turnpike Oaks – large, hollow oaks beside a road where toll collectors would shelter.
Then, as with the rest of the country was the famous ‘Oak Apple Day’ which took place on the 29th of May, some say this replaced many of the traditional May Day celebrations. The ‘roots’ of this tradition stem back to 1651 when after the battle of Worcester, King Charles II escaped from the Roundheads by hiding in an oak tree. Then when he returned to London in 1660 he introduced Oak Apple Day to celebrate his escape and also to commemorate his birthday. It was local custom that people would wear oak leaves or oak apples to mark the occasion, anyone not conforming to this was open to a good thrashing by children carrying bunches of stinging nettles. Another variation of the custom was to wear oak leaves in the morning and ash leaves in the afternoon. In Tavistock there used to be a mock battle between two sides who represented the Royalists and the Parliamentarians. Water would be their main source of weaponry and normally the fight would take place in the oak leaf decked streets. It was also custom that anyone could cut oak boughs where ever he fancied provided it was before 6.00am. In some areas Oak Apple Day was known as ‘Garland Day’ and this too happened on the 29th of May. The preparation for this day involved young boys going around the countryside plundering as many birds eggs as they could. The only bird safe from this was the robin as it was on pain of death that such a nest be robbed. Once enough eggs had been collected a frame from two crossed hoops would be made and decorated with flowers, the eggs would then be hung from the frame. On Oak Apple morning the garland would be paraded around to the accompaniment of drums and whistles and a collection would be made. In the afternoon the garland would be placed on a post or rock and the boys would compete to see who could smash the most eggs by throwing stones at them. On the northern edges of Dartmoor it was always believed to bring good luck to cut down an oak tree when the moon was waning and the wind coming from the north.
Some carpenters believed that any oak wood should be joined by a wooden peg as opposed to a nail as this ensured that the joint lasted. When beating the parish bounds it is tradition that if an oak tree was incorporated into the ancient bounds then a gospel had to be read at the tree – hence the name ‘Gospel Oak’. Herrick the poet from Dean Prior once wrote:
“Dearest, bury me,
Under that holy oke, or Gospel Tree,
Where, though thou see’st not, thou mayst,
Me, when you yearly go’st Procession.
If you ever wanted to be assured of a healthy year then the simple answer was