MORE ABOUT THE GLASTONBURY THORN
Follow link for the earlier article
Follow the M6 southwards, cross the Thelwall Viaduct near Warrington and take
Exit 20: immediately you’ll see signs directing you to Appleton Thorn Trading
Estate. "Not a very romantic place to go searching for something
holy," you might say! Well forget the trading estate and concentrate on the
village. An off-shoot of the famous Glastonbury Thorn has stood here for well
over 800 years.
Adam de Dutton - a Norman Knight – returned from the Crusades around 1178 and undertook a pilgrimage to Glastonbury Abbey. From there he brought back an off-shoot of the Holy Thorn to plant as a thanksgiving.
Bawming (adorning or anointing) the Thorn is one of England’s oldest customs. It is in fact part of May Day celebrations, the difference at Appleton being that dancing takes place, not round a maypole but round a living hawthorn tree that has been decorated with flowers.
The
day starts with a procession through the streets of the village. Children,
themselves garlanded, carry their tributes of flowers and ribbons to the tree
and "bawm" both it and the iron railings which protect it. They then
dance round it.
The bawming is done to the singing of the Bawming Song – written by R E Egerton - Warburton, a local Cheshire poet of the 19th century.
The ceremony was revived in 1973 and now takes place each year on the third Saturday in June. The present tree was planted in 1967, a gift from Appleton Thorn W I (New trees always have to be propagated as insurance against mishaps, the previous tree was blown down in a storm!)