Today is the autumnal equinox, the 24 hours when there’s 12 hours day and 12 hours night. The date varies around 21 September because the time it takes the earth to travel round the sun, our year, is not exactly 365 days but has an odd quarter day (actually 5 hours and 49 minutes) which shifts the equinox either side of the 21 September.
It is a rainy, cloudy day, the day of Forest Gate Jumble Trail. Let’s hope it is not a washout. Though locals are hardy and will make the best of it I am sure, as they did Forest Gate Festival which had more than its share of rain.
This week, I have been on search for the Witch’s Tree in Bush Wood, woodland at the northern end of Wanstead Flats. I tried to find it nine months ago for my latest crime novel. I couldn’t find it and decided that one of the characters couldn’t find it either. Well, he does in the end and is found murdered under the canopy.
I have seen the tree a couple of times, taken there by others, but really forests are very confusing, one tree-lined path looking much like another tree-lined path. Twice this week, I tried to find the tree and failed. Then I came across these instructions on line:
‘To find this tree take the footpath a few yards east of Friends Meeting House in Bush Road. Walk about 30 paces south from the road and then take a left turn and walk 50 paces down the bridle path to the east passing a wooden post with a white painted top. When you find a tree stump on your right, walk down a narrow path southward for 30 paces and you should come to the tree.’
They worked. And I found the tree. It appears to be standing on gigantic spider’s legs, which children delight in crawling beneath. It is an old chestnut tree, said to be over 500 years old, though such ageing is often exaggerated. The tree is said to wander around Wanstead Flats at night, but be back in position by daylight, which is why few have witnessed its wanderings.
The wandering tree makes me think of Baba Yaga, the witch of Slavik folk tales, whose hut is on chicken legs propelled by the witch, who is much nastier than our stately tree, though its top is damaged, perhaps by lightning or maybe a storm. The tree is on slight hillock, with half the soil on one side washed away, revealing the ‘spider’s legs’.
The possible, 500 year age takes it back to the early 16th century, being around 80 years old when James 1 came to the throne in 1603. He wrote a notorious book on witchcraft, Daemonologie, whose guidelines for witch detection were used up to the 18th century in this country, in Europe and the American colonies. Over the 40 thousand witches were burnt at the stake in Europe, around 2000 in England and Scotland, so his treatise had awful consequences.
We have been donated furniture: a sturdy bench which is now by the pond, a table and three chairs, a large table with an umbrella, plus a gazebo. All are good condition, and we are grateful for the donation. The rustic bench has been moved to a more fitting place by the back stage, as we had a bit of shift round to accommodate the new furniture.
There’s a big cluster of michaelmas daisies by the front gate, Japanese anemones here and there, marigolds of course. I dead head some of the latter to keep them going. There’s hibiscus and salvia in flower by the mid gate. The buddleia has had a trim, by the demon barber perhaps. Though, I am tempted to think the Witch’s tree might have strayed off the Flats to give it a haircut. I am sure it would have had no trouble hopping over our fence at midnight and may have cleared the wildflower bed too. Some of our volunteers claim to have done these jobs, but why spoil a good tale?