The Past It Carries The Future It Welcomes
A tree that remembers
There are trees that we pass every day without really seeing and then there are trees that seem to hold a story. In Coed y Werin, standing quietly along Woodpecker Way, is one such tree. We call it the Witness Tree. It has stood here for many years, growing steadily while the woodland around it changed. It was once a small tree beside a path that carried a very different message from the one it carries today.
For this was once a quarry.
There was a time when these woods were a working landscape, where blasting took place and danger was very real. In the branches of the young tree was a warning, a sign telling people not to pass because blasting was taking place.
Today, the quarry’s voice has changed.
The sound of blasting has been replaced by the tap-tap-tap of woodpeckers searching the old trees, by the rush of water tumbling over stones, and the soft footsteps of people passing gently over the woodland floor.
Listen closely and you can hear the woodland breathing, the rustle of leaves, the whisper of the breeze moving through the canopy, the babble of the stream, the occasional call of a bird hidden amongst the branches and perhaps, if you are very lucky, the unmistakable drumming of a woodpecker somewhere nearby.
The danger that once kept people away has become a landscape that invites them in and the Witness Tree has watched that transformation happen.
The sign remains, but time has almost hidden it.
As the tree has grown, so too has its story. Its trunk and branches have slowly enveloped the old metal sign, drawing it into the living body of the tree. What once stood proudly as a warning has become weathered, rusted and crumpled, held high amongst the tree’s growth.
If you walked beneath it today, you might not even notice. You could simply see a magnificent tree standing beside Woodpecker Way, its branches reaching upwards, its leaves whispering in the breeze.
But look a little closer.
There, amongst the growth, is a tiny piece of the past, and suddenly, the tree becomes something more. It becomes a witness. A witness to the quarry, to the people who once worked here, to a landscape shaped by industry, nature and time and now, a witness to the people who come here for an entirely different reason.
Today, nobody is being warned away, instead, the Witness Tree stands beside our woodland path as a silent greeter, welcoming walkers, families, volunteers and visitors into Coed y Werin. It watches us arrive, it watches us leave and perhaps, in its own quiet way, it watches over the woodland too.
When the wind moves through Coed y Werin, the Witness Tree sways gently with it. Its leaves dance as the breeze travels through the canopy, caressing the branches before moving onwards through the woodland.
There is something rather magical about that.
The same tree that once stood beside a path where people were warned to keep away now stands beside a path inviting people in. Its history hasn’t disappeared, it has simply become part of the tree. That is what makes the Witness Tree so special.
Trees are remarkable keepers of time. We measure their lives in rings, but sometimes their history is written on the outside too in scars, hollows, shapes, carvings and, in this case, an old rusting warning sign slowly being embraced by living wood.
The Witness Tree reminds us that our woodland has many layers. Before it became a place for forest bathing, wellbeing, volunteering, discovery and quiet contemplation, this was a very different landscape and the tree remembers. It doesn’t need a plaque to tell its story. It is the story.
So next time you walk along Woodpecker Way, slow down as you pass. Look up, look carefully amongst the branches. You may spot those old words, rusted and crumpled now, almost hidden within the tree’s embrace and perhaps you’ll pause for a moment and imagine the little tree that stood here long ago, beside a path where people were once told not to pass.
How wonderful that today, all these years later, the very same tree is standing there to welcome you home to the woods.
The Witness Tree, still standing, still watching, still remembering.
