Ceri Houlbrook
Dr Ceri Houlbrook is a Folklore and History Lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, UK, having attained her doctorate in Archaeology on the (rather niche) subject of British and Irish coin-trees. She is a committee member of the Folklore Society (for which she also edits the newsletter, FLS News) and is a published author on popular beliefs and ritual practices, past and present. Ceri loves teaching the curious, trying new foods in the name of folklore, and diving deep into the research rabbit-hole. She also manages two blogs: The Love-Lock Diaries and The Concealed Revealed.
Oldest coin tree
As early as 1863, visitors to the small loch island of Isle Maree in Scotland, UK, were known to press coins into a prominent oak tree. Beside it was a holy well, the waters from which were believed to cure mental illnesses. In thanks for a cure, pennies would be inserted into the nearby tree. By the late 19th century, pennies were hammered into the tree to make wishes. When Queen Victoria visited the tree in 1887, she hammered one in herself.