Instructions to travellers intending to cross a wooden bridge - Coleridge Way

On the Coleridge Way between Aller Farm and Sampford Brett and half a mile south of Williton there is a small wooden bridge with the following notice displayed at both ends:

"To all who tread here

In ancient times it was considered prudent for travellers about to cross a wooden bridge to make an offering to the spirits of the trees, which were cut to provide the timber.

Unless a thief or destitute person has taken it, you will find a small coin on one of the pillars. Please carry it across on an open palm and place it on a pillar on the opposite side, so that the next traveller may use it to cross in safety.

If all the coins have been taken you may wish to leave a small token to aid those who come after you.

May you travel tranquilly and arrive restored."

I haven't been able to find any trace of this ancient custom elsewhere, so don't know if the builders of the bridge put it there as a bit of fun.  Either way I have crossed over the bridge many times since I first walked the Coleridge Way in 2006 and there have always been coins on the pillars at either end of the bridge.  I'm not entirely sure what the bridge was built to cross over - there may be a very small stream underneath or maybe just a bit of boggy ground.  I will have a better look next time I am there.

 Approaching the bridge from Aller Farm

 A West Somerset Rambler crossing the bridge and disobeying the instructions!

 Approaching the bridge from Sampford Brett

 The notice

Wishing Tree, River Barle, Exmoor

This fallen tree trunk with coins embedded in it, is located a few hundred metres upstream from Tarr Steps on the banks of the River Barle.  I must have walked passed it several times over the years without noticing because some of the coins look to have been there for some years judging by the amount of corrosion they have suffered.

Wishing trees can be found in many parts of Britain.  People who bang coins into trees do it because they think it will bring them good luck and that presumably their wish will come true. It is similar to the tradition of throwing coins into wells or fountains and making a wish as you do it.

Some wishing trees date back several centuries.  It was thought that an illness could be cured by transferring it to the tree via the coin.  However if the coin was later removed it was thought that the illness would come back.

Wishing tree on the banks of the River Barle

River Barle Wishing Tree

River Barle Wishing Tree 

 French Weir Park, Taunton

This seems to be a similar idea but instead of coins wooden "buttons" have been hammered into the trunk of a dead tree

 French Weir Park's Wishing Tree?

Herne Hill, Ilminster

This is more of a work of art, than a wishing tree

If you go down to the woods today...

I went on a linear walk with a group from Wheddon Cross to Dunster in search of the Lost Village of Clicket, which we found.  However I wasn't expecting to meet 3 bears and 3 wolves in the same woods!  We came across them on a footpath between Luxborough and Timberscombe and in the vicinity of the remains of Clicket.  They look quite lifelike at first glance but closer inspection showed them to be made of a tough rubbery foam plastic material.  They have been used for archery target practice.  There may well be other creatures in the woods that we didn't spot.  I'm not convinced that practising archery along a public footpath is a very good idea but there was no sign of any archers on the day we walked through the woods or maybe the archers were there but were hiding from us in the undergrowth!

There is also another solitary life size bear chainsaw sculpture in the woods at Black Ball between Gallox Hill and Nutcombe Bottom near Dunster.  He appears to be praying.

December 2017 update: in the two years since my last visit some of the animals have moved, others have disappeared and some new ones have arrived.  A solitary wolf has turned white and been joined by a worse for wear snowy owl, a wild boar and an animal which looks like a capybara but which is probably a beaver without a tail.

February 2022 update: all the animals have disappeared.

2 black bears at Clicket

 

A solitary black bear 

A small pack of wolves

Praying Bear at Black Ball

 

Praying Bear

 

Wild Boar

Black Bear - 2017

Beaver or Capybara

Snowy Owl

White Wolf - 2017