On Finding Troll and Fairy Abodes

Ever since I was a small child, I've always kept my eyes peeled for goblins, trolls and fairyfolk in many a dingly dell it's been my good fortune to have wandered through. I think it's mostly Rupert Bear and his anthropomorphic friends who are to blame, especially Raggaty, the woodland troll made out of twigs. He was grumpy and humourless, and I absolutely adored him. I wanted to live in Nutwood - still do if I'm entirely honest!

Unfortunately, Rupert and Raggarty and all their chums are copyrighted, so I won't attempt to show them in all their glory here, but what I can do is show you a couple of my recent discoveries - the ones I've made on my various rambles in search of Troll Abodes.

Yesterday for example, on a complete whim having read an article in a newspaper, I persuaded the ever obliging Ian to come with me to St Georges Church, Crowhurst in Surrey. They have an ancient Yew tree there, with a door leading into it's gnarled and wondrously hollow core....







I'll neatly side step the fact that despite reputedly being nearly 4000 years old, the good villagers of Crowhurst, for whatever reason, decided to hollow out the bole of the tree in 1820 finding a canon ball from around the time of the English Civil War embedded deep within. The door was added sometime after this date although no one seems entirely certain when. Hmmm, I still reckon it's quite obviously the abode of an equally gnarled, if somewhat grumpy troll though, quite possibly a distant relative to old Raggarty himself.

And then there was the time I persuaded the ever so obliging Ian to take me to visit the ancient Odda's Chapel, in Deerhurst, Gloucestershire. An Anglo Saxon edifice, it was built by Odda, a relative of Edward the Confessor in 1056 in honour of his brother Aelfric;





Ostensibly we visited because of my interest in the so called Dark Ages, more particularly in relation to the way our previously heathen/pagan beliefs were assimilated into the Church. But such ernest endevours kind of flew out the window when I discovered this tree, not 200 yards in front of the Chapel;



Complete with it's very own Troll abode - although granted, it's a little bare and the door has obviously fallen off of it's hinges....



I notice that both these villages end in 'hurst' - the Anglo Saxon term for a wooded hill, and both start with the name of an animal and bird - Deer and Crow. I'm sure there's some troll-like reasoning behind it all - perhaps Nutwood can be found in a variety of locations if you look closely enough?