The Magic of Coin-Trees: From Religion to Recreation

The Magic of Coin-Trees: From Religion to Recreation examines trees into which coins have been ritually embedded across the British Isles. Ceri Houlbrook traces the custom through written references from the 1700s, when coin-trees served folk-medical and dedicatory purposes, and considers how such practices were connected with ritual landscapes, religion and popular magic.

The book then follows the changing meanings attached to coin-trees in modern Britain and Ireland. Contemporary deposits are often made in exchange for wishes, good luck or future fortune, resembling offerings at a wishing-well. Combining folklore, anthropology and archaeology, the study considers how a practice can shift from sacred or therapeutic action towards recreation while retaining its ritual character.