The Hanging Tree                          9th June 2019

“…I was profoundly saddened to see the tree cut down, it was a pleasant specimen and though I understood its significance within the community I’d still admired the tree for some while. It was only after the briefest of conversation with Edward from the village did I realise with what hatred the tree had been regarded. It seemed many years before my predecessor’s arrival in the parish, a tryst had occurred beneath its canopy but the father, of the young girl involved, was so incensed by the betrothal that he hanged his daughter and the new husband from a bough and then apparently so overcome with remorse hanged himself from the same soon after and ever since the local people saw the tree as cursed. I did ask Edward what became of their mortal remains but he was very vague and it remains unclear as to where their burials are, my sense is that the uneven ground just outside St. Thomas’ may hold a clue but have as yet not pursued the matter.”

Diary of The Reverend Henry Turnbull October 1878

attrib: Thomas Bell’s ‘The Turnbull’s of Suffolk’ pub 1949 by David Bell