AEG Trail #8: Hawthorn Ex-Dangler
The cache, a camo-taped 35mm film pot, is hidden in this common prickly small tree just off this trail which connects the Daniel Palmer Nature Trail in Marchup Ghyll with Addingham village.
This is the 8th of a series of 9 caches in an enjoyable 2.6 km circuit taking in some varied scenery and environments to the south of the village. See the Trail Map in Gallery for the route and points of interest - including cache locations.
The trail originally had 6 caches marking these key points as per the guided tour at the annual Environment Day held in May 2017.
From #7 retrace your steps eastwards back down to the stepping stones then cross the footbridge and continue up and parallel to the beck on its southern side to the cache location.
The cache description below continues from two other hawthorn caches - GC7F4AR Hawthorn Hideaway hidden near Burley-in-Wharfedale and GC7Y846 WRW#26 Hawthorn High Level one of the Wharfe River Walk series of caches hidden near between Addingham and Farfield . . .
Hawthorn Folklore: the Scots saying ‘Ne'er cast a cloot til Mey's oot’ warns not to shed any cloots (clothes) before the summer has fully arrived and the Mayflowers (hawthorn blossoms) are in full bloom.
The custom of employing the flowering branches for decorative purposes on 1 May is of very early origin, but since the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752, the tree has rarely been in full bloom in England before the second week of that month. The hawthorn has been regarded as the emblem of hope, and its branches are stated to have been carried by the ancient Greeks in wedding processions, and to have been used by them to deck the altar of Hymenaios. See here for an interesting blog on the Hawthorn - May Day connection.
The supposition that the tree was the source of Jesus's crown of thorns doubtless gave rise around 1911 to the tradition among the French peasantry that it utters groans and cries on Good Friday, and probably also to the old popular superstition in Great Britain and Ireland that ill luck attended the uprooting of hawthorns
Serbian and Croatian folklore notes hawthorn is particularly deadly to vampires, and stakes used for their slaying must be made from the wood of the thorn tree.
In Gaelic folklore, hawthorn 'marks the entrance to the otherworld' and is strongly associated with the 
fairies. Lore has it that it is very unlucky to cut the tree at any time other than when it is in bloom; however, during this time, it is commonly cut and decorated as a May bush.
This warning persists to modern times - folklorist Dr Bob Curran questions whether the ill luck of the De Lorean Motor Company was associated with the destruction of a fairy thorn to make way for a production facility!
In Ogham - also known as the Tree Alphabet - the hawthorn is represented by the sixth symbol called Huath (pronounced Hoo-ah).
In Ireland it is known as a fairy tree. Because it flowers in the Spring, it was associated with the festival of Bealtaine, a sacred time to the ancient Irish and to the Sidhe (the fairy folk). As a tree sacred to the fairies, the hawthorn was never to be messed with, damaged, or cut. Ill fortune would surely befall the fool who took such a chance, and offended the tree’s owners. Poised thus between the Otherworld and the physical world, the hawthorn eventually came to be regarded with fear, and it was said that witches made their brooms from its branches.
Britain's most famous hawthorn was the Holy Thorn of Glastonbury or Glastonbury Thorn. Legend tells of how Joseph of Arimathea, the uncle of the Virgin Mary, arrived at a hill overlooking Glastonbury Tor with a few disciples and two sacred vessels containing the blood and sweat of Jesus. Where he thrust his staff into the ground it sprouted and grew into a thorn tree. Though the original is obviously not there any more, one of its supposed descendants does still stand on the hill, and other offspring grown from cuttings and perpetuated over the centuries can be found around Glastonbury and indeed further afield in England. This particular hawthorn blooms twice a year, once in May and again around Christmas. A sprig of one of these Glastonbury thorns from outside St John's Church is traditionally sent to the Queen, who is said to decorate her breakfast table with it on Christmas morning. Sadly the Glastonbury hawthorn was vandalised in May 2010 - see here - and finally removed by the landowner in 2019. .
For further info: see here and here. See also may tree myth and medicine and hawthorn through the seasons-2011 tree of the year for blogs on this fascinating tree.
See here and here for the rich and fascinating folklore, magical properties and mythical connections of hawthorn - and other trees.