Exploring the history of The Green Man
Southwater Local History Group
The woodlands will now be coming into full leaf; walking through beech-woods, sunlight shining through their beautiful translucence green leaves, who could imagine that darker, older things could be lurking deeper in the greenwood? It’s easy to imagine strange old faces in the gnarled bark of old trees - could one of them actually be The Green Man?
The enigmatic Green Man has been known probably ever since people began to develop the ideas of the spirits of the natural world who took care of their particular environments. The Green Man seemed to be particularly potent and many myths and legends have their roots in this ancient being; the legends of Robin Hood, Herne the Hunter, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, for example, or maybe he appeared through the branches of the great Norse tree Yggdrasil - who can say? He’s certainly been around for a very long time and seeming neither to be benign nor yet malevolent but still one to be wary of, perhaps.
Unlike other pagan spirits and deities, he also seems always to have been accepted into Christian Churches, where you will find his face, wreathed in leaves and with roots and branches emerging from his mouth, carved into the stonework, as ceiling bosses or on wooden pew ends. An early example of a Green Man in a church appears on the tomb of St Abre, now in St. Hilaire-le-Grand, France, and dating back to 400AD.
In the secular world, The Green Man is a very popular name for inns and again likely always to have been so. Lately, The Green Man image has made a comeback in the world of art. A striking example is the Whitefield Green Man, carved by British artist Paul Sivell in a dead section of a living oak tree.
From the 17th Century, Jack in the Green has been part of many English May Day celebrations. A pyramidal or conical framework decorated with foliage is worn by a person as part of the procession, often accompanied by musicians. Is there a connection? That, like much else about the Green Man, is uncertain.
To close, you may enjoy a charming poem, The Green Man in the Garden, by Charles Causley.
The Green Man in the Garden
Green man in the garden
Staring from the tree,
Why do you look so long and hard
Through the pane at me?
Your eyes are dark as holly,
Of sycamore your horns,
Your bones are made of elder-branch,
Your teeth are made of thorns.
Your hat is made of ivy-leaf,
Of bark your dancing shoes,
And evergreen and green and green
Your jacket and shirt and trews.
“Leave your house and leave your land
And throw away the key,
And never look behind,” he creaked
,
“And come and live with me.”
I bolted up the window,
I bolted up the door
,
I drew the blind that I should find
The green man never more.
But when I softly turned the stair
As I went up to bed,
I saw the green man standing there.
“Sleep well, my friend,” he said.
If you have any photos or memories of events in Southwater, Southwater Local History Group would be delighted to hear from you. We are always keen to add to our considerable archive and can scan your pictures or documents and return them safely to you, keeping your memories safe for posterity. Contact Patsy Laker, 01403 730143.