For 30 years the branches of a tree on the busy A40 have been bedecked by dozens of pairs of shoes ,many hanging from their laces, tied neatly.
But a four-year project,funded by the Natioanl Lottery to discover why the shoes are dangled ,has borne no fruit.
The shoe tree between Hywycobe and Stokenchurch,Buckinghamshire,is currentny decorated with around fifty pairs of shoes,ranging from tattered working boots to smart looking women’s slip-ons.
More than 265,000 sterling pounds of Heritage Lottery funding was granted to Chilterns Woodlands Project to help provide a definitive answer.But just rumour and legend continue to live on.
Some say the shoe dangling ritual which began in the 1970s,has pagan origins and has just continued over the years.
Others believe the shoes were originally thrown up as a whitchcraft ritual to put a hex on unfortunate souls.Stories circulating among the locals are varied and thought provoking.
“There are so many stories why the shoes appear on the branches” said local David Holmes 41.
“Some say it was a form of toll payment by the travellers or a firtility ritual,but I think its proabably a hoax that just carries on”.
“Whatever it is new shoes keep appearing,even now.”
Preparation for an alien landing or good luck for newly weds are among the suggested reasons.
Rachel Sanderson,co-ordinator of special trees Woodlands Project described the tree as absolute “mystery”.
The lottery money to the Chilterns Woodlands Project was for a four and a half year period to collect data and carry out research on special trees in the area. “But in the case of this specific tree nobody knows just why shoes are put on it or quite when it started”.
It is one of those things,it is an absolute mystery.
News item, from Telegraph.co.uk.2009
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