Photo by Gary Tacagni
Many Cheshire churchyards have Yew trees within them and a good many of them are very old, however there is one at Astbury church near Congleton which is reputed to be over one thousand years old.
This may mean that there was a Yew tree at this location before a Christian church was built at this site, and it may also mean that this may have been the site of a Druids Grove as the Yew tree featured prominently in Celtic belief. There is both Yew and Oak trees growing at the site of a Holy Well which can be found on Alderley Edge also in the county of Cheshire.
Throughout the country many Oak trees were venerated and used as places to preach from in the past. The Oak tree seems to attract lightning far more than other species of trees, these lightning Oaks as they become known were said to have associations with the God of thunder and any such Oak tree would be deemed as special. People in the past would seek these trees out and make talismans from parts of it, as it was thought to protect one and bring about good luck to the wearer.
The village of Alderley Edge derives its name from the mystical Alder or Eller tree, revered by our predecessors as a symbol of the Gods, and therefore something to be worshipped, children up until this century would dance around the Alder tree and recite rhymes.
The photograph below is of a strange tree which can be found in Windmill wood on Alderley Edge, when I was taking a psychic friend of mine to some of the unusal places to be found in this area, she told me that this tree has some sort of connection to the Fairy Folk (Tuatha de Dannan?), and when this tree finally dies their connection with this area will be severed.
