Historic fallen tree to carve out new future

Ballycastle wood turner Gerard Gray, 59, has been tasked with the exciting job of making mementoes, including wooden crosses, bowls and coasters, from the fallen Spanish Chestnut tree, which has stood alongside St Patrick’s Church of Ireland in Cairncastle, Co Antrim since the 1600s.

Gerard, who has experience working with wood from the Game of Throne trees at the Dark Hedges as well as having featured on the BBC’s One Show, and even had his work presented to the Queen, said he is “honoured” to be working with such an historic tree.

“The church contacted me and said they wanted to see the timber being used as well as possible, rather than being cut up for burning. They want me to make something they can remember and put it in the church.

“Firstly, it was a lovely experience to be called, and secondly, just looking at the tree itself was pretty mind-blowing. My first thought was the soil I was looking at hadn’t seen the light of day in over four centuries. Underneath the tree there was a rabbit’s warren.”

Gerard is also intrigued by the tree’s past.

He said: “The legend goes that one of the sailors from the Spanish Armada washed in on the rocks at Glenarm and they took him up to the church to give him a Christian burial. The sailors would have eaten the chestnuts to keep scurvy at bay. Apparently the sailor had chestnuts in this pocket, they buried him and then this tree sprouted from one of the chestnuts.”

Gerard said he couldn’t see the sailor’s gravestone when the tree was removed, but archaeologists are due to visit the site.

He added: “It wasn’t an overly tall tree, but it was really thick – maybe four feet in diameter at the trunk. Looking at the roots and talking to the tree surgeon, I just think it had come to the end of its tether. Trees have a life expectancy and, like ourselves, some more, and some less, than others.”

Gerard, who has been turning wood for 30 years, said it will take some time for the wood to be ready to carve.

“The wood turning I do is called live edge or natural edge, where I keep the natural outside edge of the timber. You can’t kiln dry it, it has to be air dried, so it is a slow process.

“I hope to make bowls and a large cross for the back wall of the church, or small crosses that people can take as a memento. The tree is unique so I want so I want to make the wood last.”

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