Statue of St. Etheldreda and relic casket containing her incorrupt hand

St Etheldreda’s Church, Ely Place, London

Of all the trees that grow so fair,

   Old England to adorn,

Greater are none beneath the Sun,

   Than Oak, and Ash, and Thorn.

Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs,

   (All of a Midsummer morn!)

Surely we sing no little thing,

   In Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

Oak of the Clay lived many a day,

   Or ever AEneas began.

Ash of the Loam was a lady at home,

   When Brut was an outlaw man.

Thorn of the Down saw New Troy Town

   (From which was London born);

Witness hereby the ancientry

    Of Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

Yew that is old in churchyard-mould,

   He breedeth a mighty bow.

Alder for shoes do wise men choose,

   And beech for cups also.

But when ye have killed, and your bowl is spilled,

   And your shoes are clean outworn,

Back ye must speed for all that ye need,

   To Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

Ellum she hateth mankind, and waiteth

   Till every gust be laid,

To drop a limb on the head of him

   That anyway trusts her shade:

But whether a lad be sober or sad,

   Or mellow with ale from the horn,

He will take no wrong when he lieth along

   'Neath Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

Oh, do not tell the Priest our plight,

   Or he would call it a sin;

But - we have been out in the woods all night,

   A-conjuring Summer in!

And we bring you news by word of mouth-

   Good news for cattle and corn-

Now is the Sun come up from the South,

   With Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs

   (All of a Midsummer morn!)

England shall bide till Judgment Tide,

   By Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

ᚪ ᚫ ᚦ

 St Margaret of Scotland and her siblings, showing their descent from King Edmund Ironside of England
(BL Royal 14 B VI; H/T: Eleanor Parker)

Than with a glad chere our Lord loked into His syde and beheld, enjoyand; and with His swete lokyng He led forth the understondyng of His creture be the same wound into Hys syde withinne. And than He shewid a faire, delectabil place and large enow for al mankynd that shal be save to resten in pece and in love. 

[The Tenth Revelation]

From Cambridgeshire Live:

The unusual religious tradition is being enacted at St Ives parish church in 1979, and it’s called bible dicing. It’s nothing to do with slicing up the Good Book with a sharp knife, it’s all about gambling, not something generally encouraged in church. Every Whit Tuesday, children from local schools go to the church and roll a dice on a table to win a copy of the Bible. Remarkably, the custom dates back to 1765, when a parishioner, Dr Robert Wilde, left money in his will to fund copies of the holy writings.

Legend has it he had been lost in a fog, and was guided to safety by the church bells, so decided to bequeath money to the church to buy an orchard – which itself would provide an income the vicar could use to buy Bibles. The orchard, appropriately called Bible Orchard, is still there.