A Tree is a Tree

A tree is a tree. How many more do you have to look at?

Thus spake Ronald Reagan in 1966 when, as Governor of California, he opposed the expansion of Redwood National Park.

Obviously President Reagan, despite his Irish roots (no pun intended), did not have a great appreciation of things arborial. Had he hailed from Dromahair matters might have been different, as our village is blessed with some magnificent specimens of both native and imported trees. In fact it may well be our trees which make Dromahair one of the prettiest villages in Ireland. The 2011 Tidy Towns adjudicators certainly thought so, citing our trees as our "greatest landscaping resource".

Trees have been of great importance to the Irish from earliest times. They spread across this island after the last ice age and survived unchallenged for almost five thousand years, until our ancestors began to fell for timber and to clear the land for agriculture. Aside from their obvious uses, the early Irish revered trees as among the oldest living things, and ascribed to them a mystic significance. They were venerated as sources of wisdom and often became places of sanctuary, celebration and commemoration. The ancient Irish built no temples: instead sacred trees guarded important sites or wells. More than half of the characters of the ancient Ogham alphabet are derived from the names of trees, and the Irish language even has a word, bile, denoting a sacred tree. Can the siting of the Abbey at Creevelea (Craobh Liath - grey sacred tree) have been an accident?

Five particular trees were sacred according to ancient Irish legend: three ash, one oak and one yew. These were the Bile Uisnigh and Craobh Daithi in Westmeath, Eo Mugna at the mouth of the Shannon, Eo Rossa at Leighlin in Carlow and Bile Tortan in Meath. Of these, the last was the most sacred and the largest, reputed to be large enough to shelter one thousand men. Legend associates Fionn Mac Cumhaill with the hazel and Cú Chulainn with the holly. The Salmon of Knowledge was said to have been fattened on nuts which fell from the nine hazels of wisdom which grew at the source of the Boyne. The Druids believed the ash to hold magic powers and Saint Patrick is said to have driven the snakes from Ireland with an ash stick.

The yew, believed to be the longest living tree in Europe, in ancient times as now was associated with death and the dead, and today whenever a group of yew trees is seen it is almost certain that the site has some sacred or religious significance. Here in Dromahair we have a large yew at the old cemetery on the reputed site of St. Patrick's church at Drumlease. There are a number of fine yews in the grounds of the Church of Ireland. Another is to be found at Creevelea Abbey and there are several in the village itself. Yew trees are among the most difficult to date, due to their unusual trunk formation, but it might make for a very interesting school project.........

Brehon Law, which survived until the seventeenth century, protected trees from unnecessary felling and undue harm. Trees were ranked into four groups, the pre-eminent being the Nobles of the Wood; oak, hazel, holly, yew, ash, pine and apple. In some cases the penalty for unlawfully felling a "chieftain" tree could be the same as the penalty for killing a human chieftain. To this day some 13,000 of the names of the 16,000 Irish townlands are derived from the names of trees. Locally we have Drumkeeran (Droim Caorthainn - Ridge of the Rowans), Boihy (Beite - Birch land), Cullentra (Cuilleantra - Holly land) and Drumoghill (Droim Eocaill - Ridge of the Yew Trees).

Of course, the ancient broadleaf trees are not the only species to be seen in Dromahair today. Over the years many new trees have been imported and now flourish here. The horse chestnut, beech and sycamore thrive among our native species. Perhaps the most exotic interloper can be seen in Father McTiernan's garden - a rather spectacular Monkey Puzzle Tree, native to Chile or Argentina. Another, which is looking sadly neglected of late, is to be found in the garden of the Abbey Manor Hotel and yet another can be spotted in the back gardens of Drumlease Road. Not forgetting of course the fine specimen in Teddy O'Loughlin's garden, which at Christmas is resplendent with fairy lights.

We have trees of almost infinite variety here in our pretty village. We have maple and acer, pink cherry blossom and blue cedar, larch and laburnum. We have hornbeam and hawthorn, alder and elder. We have rowan and magnolia, elm and eucalyptus. I'm not sure that we have a California Redwood, but I'm open to correction. What we do have is lots and lots of wonderful, marvellous trees!

So, in answer to the late President's question: Yes - a tree is a tree. And we want to look at them all.