THE SHREW ASH IN RICHMOND PARK.
[The photographs, of which the following paper is an explanation, were (with some others referred to in the footnote) presented to the Society by Miss Ffennell, and exhibited on her behalf at the meeting of February 20th, 1895. As it seemed desirable to preserve a record of the facts relating to the Richmond ash, so far as they are known, she has added to the Society's debt to her by acceding to the Editor's request to set them down here.]
In offering the following note to accompany the three illustrations of this interesting relic of folk-belief, I would like to start by saying that the Shrew Ash in Richmond Park is not a "mere sucker" springing from the old roots, but a living fragment of the ancient tree itself. The "Sheen Tree," as it is sometimes called, does not only mark the spot where once the famous ash grew, but preserves to this day a still growing portion of the actual part of the trunk where the ritual was performed while the ash remained entire.[1] I wish to emphasise this, as it has been denied once at a meeting of our Society and frequently elsewhere. The identity of the present fragment will, I think, be clearly demonstrated to anyone who compares the old illustrations of 1856 and the sketch of 1860, referred to in the note at foot of the page, either with the tree itself, the most satisfactory mode of comparison, or with the illustrations of 1891. A glance at the latter will show how unmistakably the form of the lower branches in their modern condition agrees with
- ↑ See Plate IV., on left-hand side, the "witch-bar" as it appeared in 1856, and Plates V. and VI. (taken 1891), on left-hand side, showing where one end of the bar was attached to the tree now standing ; the place of attachment is indicated by the rounded projection something less than half-way up the old trunk. The complete series of illustrations, including one giving a full view of the tree, with top branches and "witch-bar," taken from a sketch of an engraving made in 1859 or 1860, and four other views of the tree in 1891, may be seen in the Society's Museum collection of various photographs connected with folklore subjects.
