The Democratisation of the Landscape

Abstract

The previous chapter revealed that several coin-trees in Britain and Ireland have long histories of ritual associations. Chapter 3, ‘The Democratisation of the Landscape,’ will show that the majority do not. Most are contemporary structures, the products of participation by large numbers of modern-day practitioners. Some contemporary coin-tree sites inhabit landscapes with long ritual narratives, such as Patrishow in Powys, but most have no history of ritual, religious or magical associations. This chapter questions what characteristics of the twentieth and twenty-first century landscape may have led to a modern-day renaissance of the coin-tree custom, from changes in forestry policy to growing access to rural sites. It ends by questioning whether the word ‘renaissance’ is pertinent in this context by critiquing the notion of ‘survival’ and introducing the concept of ritual recycling.