Maynooth University's Tairseach Tree Trail
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Trail Overview
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When you are ready to start the trail click the first tree on the toolbar above or scroll down.
1. Alder (Fearnóg)
Folklore & Interesting Facts
In ancient Ireland, sections of alder trunks were used as round shields for battle. In folklore, the alder is feared and viewed as frightening as the white timber, when freshly cut, turns blood-orange in colour which makes the tree appear to bleed. Alder was also a traditional timber used to make broom handles and shoes.
The alder is an ideal tree to mitigate floods, as it stabilises soil!
Alder (Fearnóg) bark
Alder (Fearnóg) pinecones
Alder (Fearnóg) leaves
Q: Why would witches like the alder tree?
A: To build their magic broomsticks
2. Scots Pine (Péine Albanach)
Folklore & Interesting Facts
A native tree of Ireland, however over the years due to climate change and human activity it has significantly declined. It was used for the Yuletide log and for burning during the winter solstice and is a symbol of rebirth and hope of the new spring and light-filled seasons ahead.
It can be grown on marginal land and may survive where many trees cannot. Red squirrels enjoy seeds from this tree. Eagles nest here.
Scots Pine (Péine Albanach) bark
Scots Pine (Péine Albanach) pinecone
Scots Pine (Péine Albanach) needles
Q: What animal can live off of the seeds from this tree?
A: Red squirrel
3. Willow (Saileach)
Folklore & Interesting Facts
In Celtic culture, willow trees were of great significance due to the wide range of materials they served.
They often grow on riverbanks and lakesides which held huge significance to the Celtic people.
All Willows are rich in insect life and so provide a good food source for insect-eating birds in the summer, notably for the willow warbler!
Irish Language
Saille, Seille, S – Willow is the fourth letter of the ogham alphabet ‘Saille’ and the fifth month of the Celtic Tree calendar. A symbol that spring has come, it is the first tree to flower in spring, so loved by the bees, and the last tree to lose its vibrant colour in autumn.
Willow (Saileach) bark
Willow (Saileach) leaves
Q: Where does the weeping willow get its name?
A: Raindrops that are falling to the ground from the dropping branches of the willow resemble tears. That is how the weeping willow got its name.
4. Silver Birch (Beith Gheal)
Folklore & Interesting Facts
The silver birch was one of the first trees to rejuvenate after the last ice age, and seen in Celtic mythology as a symbol of new beginnings, renewal, and purification.
Samhain (1st of November) was the start of the Celtic year when purification was important and people used bundles of birch twigs to drive out the spirits of the old year.
Birch branches were sometimes used to make babies' cradles as an act of protection for the children.
The silver birch is known as the ‘Lady of the Forest’
The catkins, or flowers, of the silver birch appear in the spring before the leaves, and the small winged seeds mature late in the summer.
Birds especially coaltits and goldfinches love the seeds of the silver birches.
Irish Language
Birch or Beithe, is the first tree of the Ogham, the Celtic tree alphabet.
Silver Birch (Beith Gheal) bark
Silver Birch (Beith Gheal) leaves
Q: From where did the 'Silver Birch' name originate?
A: The white-grey colour of its bark makes it shimmer in the light and it appears a silver-grey colour. Hence, the silver birch!
5. Ash (Fuinseog)
Folklore & Interesting Facts
Saint Patrick used his walking stick made from wood from an Ash tree to banish all the snakes in Ireland into the sea.
Ash can live up to 400 years but it is thought that coppiced (pruned) trees can live many hundreds of years more.
Irish Language
Ash represents the letter N in the Irish Tree Alphabet.
Nion, Nuin, N
The ash is the fifth letter in the Ogham alphabet, ‘Nion’ or ‘Nuin’, and the third month in the Celtic tree calendar.
Ash (Fuinseog) bark
Q: In Ireland, the ash was considered one of the trilogy of sacred trees along with two other trees?
A: Oak and hawthorn
6. Native Irish Hedgerow (Fál Sceach)
Folklore & Interesting Facts
Hedgerows are really important corridors for the movement of mammals, such as red squirrels and pine martens. Birds, bats, and butterflies travel along hedgerows, rather than across open fields.
Hawthorn:
In Irish, it is ‘Sceach Gheal’. It is also known as the ‘Faerie Tree’ for it is said to guard the entrance to the faerie realm and it is still considered bad luck to harm one. It is common practice to collect sprigs of flowers from the hawthorn during the month of May to place in and around the home to banish evil spirits or misfortune. Be mindful to always ask the fairy folk for permission to take these however!
Hawthorn leaves
Hawthorn flowers
Blackthorn:
The Irish cudgel is called a bata or a shillelagh (used in Irish stick fighting). Although it can be made from Oak, Ash or Holly it is usually made from Blackthorn. The blackthorn wood is a very hard, strong wood and the root of the shrub can be easily formed into the knob of a ‘bata’.
Blackthorn leaves
Blackthorn berries
Hazel:
Like the willow, young coppiced hazel shoots can be used to make baskets. Diviners favoured forked hazel twigs for finding water. The leaves of hazel trees are usually the first to appear in spring and the last to disappear in autumn. There was a belief in folklore that hazel can increase a cow’s milk yield.
Hazel leaves
Dog Rose:
A much-loved shrub of Irish hedgerows, the Dog Rose produces pink or white rose-like flowers from June to August. These flowers have 5 petals measuring 3-5cm across and sit on green arching branches with curved thorns.
In autumn, the dog-rose produces the red hips which are the fruits.
It is believed that if fairies ingest a rosehip and then turn three times anti-clockwise, they can make themselves become invisible! To reappear, they must eat another rosehip and turn three times clockwise.
Dog rose leaves
Dog rose flowers
Elder:
The elder tree is one of protection. It is good luck if you have an elder tree outside your door, especially at the rear of the house. People plant elder trees around dairies in order to keep the milk from going ‘off’. In times gone by, dairy workers would hang linen involved in the dairy process out to dry on the branches of the elder trees. The smell of the elder tree is known to repel flies and insects. When food is left out overnight under an elder tree, this is considered a gift to the fairy folk.
Elder leaves and flowers
Q: When does nesting season approximately begin?
A: March
7. Hazel (Coll)
Folklore & Interesting Facts
The hazel tree is associated with the very earliest human settlements in Ireland of Mesolithic man. It is apparently bad luck to cut down a hazel tree.
Hazel is associated with wisdom.
Hazel is known for the yellow ‘lamb tail’ catkins that grow on the branches in spring but the hazelnuts emerge from the little bud-like casings.
Hazelnuts were equated with wisdom by the Celts.
Irish Language
Coll – The Hazel is associated with wisdom. It is the ninth letter in the ogham alphabet, Coll and the ninth month in the Celtic tree calendar.
Hazel (Coll) bark
Hazel (Coll) leaves
Q: Who equated hazelnuts with wisdom?
A: The Celts
8. Holly (Cuileann)
About a quarter of a mile east side of Aughaclay Chapel, there is a field with a holly tree growing in the middle of it. The owner of this field who did not believe in fairies employed a man to subsoil the land and remove this holly tree. On the night before he was to remove this holly tree, he was preparing for bed when a small woman with a red hood came into the house, although the door was closed. She told him not to interfere with this holly tree but to tell his employer to put a high wall to the west side of it. Then he turned to question the woman she was gone; the door was closed all the time. He went the next morning and told his employer what he saw and heard and said he would not interfere with this holly-tree no matter what he gave him for doing it, as he was afraid. His employer said he would have to remove the tree the next day except he got some warning himself. That night when this man and his family were sitting by the fireside, after saying the Rosary something like a whirlwind came down the chimney and scattered the fire all through the kitchen. After what he saw, he would not allow anybody to touch this holly tree, and the holly tree remains there still. He also erected the wall to the west side of it. www.dúchas.ie
Folklore & Interesting Facts
Holly trees are female and male. Only female trees grow the berries. Holly is a key food plant for about 30 species of invertebrate, including the caterpillars of insects such as the holly blue and privet hawkmoth.
Holly (Cuileann) bark
Holly (Cuileann) leaves
Q: Which holly tree produces bright red berries, the feminine or masculine holly tree?
A: Feminine
9. Yew (Iúr)
Folklore & Interesting Facts
Mature yew trees can grow to 20m in height. The bark is a reddish-brown colour with purple tones which peels. The yew is most likely the longest living tree in northern Europe.
The Silken Thomas yew on the Maynooth University campus is allegedly the oldest tree in Ireland.
The evergreen leaves are needle-like which grow in two rows along the twig. Underneath, the needles each have a central vein that is raised.
In pre-Christian times, the Druids held the yew tree sacred. They observed the tree’s qualities of longevity and regeneration. The older the yew tree becomes, the more its branches droop towards the ground. When this happens, the branches can burrow down into the ground and root, forming new trunks from the soil. Therefore, the yew symbolised death and resurrection in Celtic culture.
It is also thought that the Celts were aware of the toxicity of the yew tree’s needles. Shakespeare, when he had Macbeth create a poisonous potion, stated “slips of yew, silvered in the moon’s eclipse”. The many references to the poisonous elements of the yew highlight the connections the yew has with death.
Yew (Iúr) bark
Yew (Iúr) needles
Q: Why is the Maynooth yew known as the Silken Thomas Yew?
A: Legend has it that Silken Thomas played the lute under the boughs of the Maynooth yew tree the night before he surrendered to King Henry VIII in the 1500s.