I have lots of images of this tree from the internet, it being historically important, but do not know there copyright status - therefore I have not added them, but do a search for Cross Tree, or Dancing Tree, Moretonhampstead, anbd you will find it...
This is the site of a historic ancient tree, once an elm tree which was known as The Cross Tree because in it's small granite surround is the head of a medieval cross. It is sited on Cross Street in Moretonhampstead. The pollard elm was also known as The Dancing Tree because a platform was erected in the crown with a rope railing and steps down to a nearby garden. At the village fair people would dance in this raised platform to the accompaniment of musicians. The elm eventually died (but was photographed) and was replaced by a copper beech. This has since been removed and a whitebeam planted in its place.
Part of a fascinating account from the Morehampton History Society webpage entitled The Dancing Tree:
The Cross Tree, Punchbowl Tree or Dancing Tree was a pollarded elm whose branches were at one time trained into the shape of a punch bowl. It has a history going back at least to 1790, when it was already big enough to hold tables and chairs. It grew through the base of what may well have been a very old cross to the south of the church, giving its name to Cross Street. The name ‘Punchbowl’ tree came from its shape, and perhaps from its use by James Fynes and his cronies in the 1790s as a place to sit and drink. Its use for music and dancing came a little later, when John Hancock, who had turned Mr Fynes’ house (CROSS TREE HOUSE) into an inn, made a platform within the tree and a bridge to the top of the wall of his skittle alley with a ladder so that people could dance in the tree.”
History from Dartmoor Crosses website:
W.H. Thornton, Rector of North Bovey, remembered seeing the tree in its punchbowl shape about 1860, and commented that the artist F.J. Widgery had twice painted the tree with a more normal, bushy appearance (as in the Bowring Library bookplates). The tree was already ‘old’ in 1800, but lasted until it was badly damaged in a storm in 1891, and finally blown down in 1903.” It has since been replaced three times, in 1906 (on the removal of the remains of the old tree), 1912 (with a copper beech) and in 2012 (with a rowan).”
I have lots of images of this tree from the internet, it being historically important, but do not know there copyright status - therefore I have not added them, but do a search for Cross Tree, or Dancing Tree, Moretonhampstead, anbd you will find it...
This is the site of a historic ancient tree, once an elm tree which was known as The Cross Tree because in it's small granite surround is the head of a medieval cross. It is sited on Cross Street in Moretonhampstead. The pollard elm was also known as The Dancing Tree because a platform was erected in the crown with a rope railing and steps down to a nearby garden. At the village fair people would dance in this raised platform to the accompaniment of musicians. The elm eventually died (but was photographed) and was replaced by a copper beech. This has since been removed and a whitebeam planted in its place.
Part of a fascinating account from the Morehampton History Society webpage entitled The Dancing Tree: The Cross Tree, Punchbowl Tree or Dancing Tree was a pollarded elm whose branches were at one time trained into the shape of a punch bowl. It has a history going back at least to 1790, when it was already big enough to hold tables and chairs. It grew through the base of what may well have been a very old cross to the south of the church, giving its name to Cross Street. The name ‘Punchbowl’ tree came from its shape, and perhaps from its use by James Fynes and his cronies in the 1790s as a place to sit and drink. Its use for music and dancing came a little later, when John Hancock, who had turned Mr Fynes’ house (CROSS TREE HOUSE) into an inn, made a platform within the tree and a bridge to the top of the wall of his skittle alley with a ladder so that people could dance in the tree.”
History from Dartmoor Crosses website: W.H. Thornton, Rector of North Bovey, remembered seeing the tree in its punchbowl shape about 1860, and commented that the artist F.J. Widgery had twice painted the tree with a more normal, bushy appearance (as in the Bowring Library bookplates). The tree was already ‘old’ in 1800, but lasted until it was badly damaged in a storm in 1891, and finally blown down in 1903.” It has since been replaced three times, in 1906 (on the removal of the remains of the old tree), 1912 (with a copper beech) and in 2012 (with a rowan).”