I can’t think of any bushes that might be juniper in Juniper Drive. It’s quite a ‘leafy’ area but the planting seems to have been done by the home owners since the road would have been named. Perhaps some of the . . . → Read More: Juniper Drive, Salisbury]]> Juniper Drive is in the Paul’s Dene area of Salisbury, near to Old Sarum.

I can’t think of any bushes that might be juniper in Juniper Drive. It’s quite a ‘leafy’ area but the planting seems to have been done by the home owners since the road would have been named. Perhaps some of the bushes by the path along the top of the hill are junipers?

Juniper as a species is found in Northern Europe, North America, Northern Asia and North Africa. ¹

The berries are used in the manufacture of gin. The word ‘gin’ is a shortening for the Dutch word ‘genever’, which means ‘juniper’.

Image from Amazon

Footnotes

1. botanical.com – A Modern Herbal | Juniper Berries

‘Linden’ is a word for ‘lime tree’, or ‘made from the wood of a lime-tree’ 1.

The names of the roads on the estate are a bit of a mystery to me – there’s no obvious relation between them. To use a . . . → Read More: Linden Close, Laverstock]]> Linden Close is in Laverstock, at the eastern edge of the ‘pebbledash-ed’ estate.

‘Linden’ is a word for ‘lime tree’, or ‘made from the wood of a lime-tree’ ¹.

The names of the roads on the estate are a bit of a mystery to me – there’s no obvious relation between them. To use a favourite word of my daughter, the other road names on the estate (Napier Crescent, Vanessa Avenue etc) are fairly ‘random’. There are two possible reasons for the name of Linden Close that I could think of.

The first is that is a reference to the trees behind Linden Close i.e. between Linden Close and Duck Lane. I’m afraid I don’t know enough about trees to know one or another, but you could see this as fitting in with the adjacent road ‘Greenwood Avenue’.

The second is that Linden is somebody’s name. This would fit in with other roads on the estate which have named which are also either Christian names or surnames – Vanessa Avenue, Melvin Road and Napier Crescent.

Linden and Lime in music and art

Culture and religion

According to Wikipedia, the linden or lime tree has special cultural or even spiritual significance in much of Middle Europe. In Poland many villages have the name ‘Holy Lime’; Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic have the tree as a national emblem; the name Leipzig is derived from the tree ; icons are typically painted on lime wood; in Germany the tree was supposed to help determine truth; one of the most significant streets in Berlin is Unter den Linden.

William Barnes’ Linden Lea

Image from Amazon

A Dorset cleric, William Barnes, wrote a poem called ‘Linden Lea’ in 1856:

Within the woodlands, flowery gladed,
By the oak tree’s mossy moot,
The shining grass-blades, timber-shaded,
Now do quiver under foot;
And birds do whistle overhead,
And water’s bubbling in its bed,
And there for me the apple tree
Do lean down low in Linden Lea.

When leaves that lately were a-springing
Now do fade within the copse,
And painted birds do hush their singing
Up upon the timber tops;
And brown-leaved fruit’s a-turning red,
In cloudless sunshine, overhead,
With fruit for me, the apple tree
Do lean down low in Linden Lea.

Let other folk make money faster
In the air of dark-roomed towns,
I don’t dread a peevish master;
Though no man do heed my frowns,
I be free to go abroad,
Or take again my homeward road
To where, for me, the apple tree
Do lean down low in Linden Lea.

The poem was made famous when it was set to music by Vaughaun Williams in 1902. Williams wrote in 1925 that it was ‘horribly popular’.

The Linden here, presumably represents the tranquility of nature. ‘Lea’ means open space, or grove².

At the time of writing there is a recording of ‘Linden Lea’ on Youtube here:

• Linden Lea sung by Hendon St Mary’s Choir

Coleridge – ‘This Lime-tree Bower my Prison’

Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem ‘This Lime-tree Bower my Prison’ uses the Lime Tree, I think, as symbolizing the beauty of nature at all levels.

Image from Amazon

I’ve got a ‘tin ear’ for poetry, but my reading of the poem is that Coleridge begins by feeling very, very, sorry for himself. His friends are out enjoying water-falls, hill-top ledges, heaths and the sea – ‘Nature’ writ large, if you will.

Well, they are gone, and here must I remain,
This lime-tree bower my prison! I have lost
Beauties and feelings, such as would have been
Most sweet to my remembrance even when age
Had dimm’d mine eyes to blindness!

Coleridge however is in failing health – stuck in the Lime-Tree Bower, which he characterizes as ‘his Prison’:

Well, they are gone, and here must I remain,
This lime-tree bower my prison! I have lost
Beauties and feelings, such as would have been
Most sweet to my remembrance even when age
Had dimm’d mine eyes to blindness!

Then he comes to realize the beauty of Nature ‘writ small’, in the:

Comes sudden on my heart, and I am glad
As I myself were there! Nor in this bower,
This little lime-tree bower, have I not mark’d
Much that has sooth’d me. Pale beneath the blaze
Hung the transparent foliage; and I watch’d
Some broad and sunny leaf, and lov’d to see
The shadow of the leaf and stem above
Dappling its sunshine! And that walnut-tree
Was richly ting’d, and a deep radiance lay
Full on the ancient ivy, which usurps
Those fronting elms, and now, with blackest mass
Makes their dark branches gleam a lighter hue
Through the late twilight: and though now the bat
Wheels silent by, and not a swallow twitters,
Yet still the solitary humble-bee
Sings in the bean-flower! Henceforth I shall know
That Nature ne’er deserts the wise and pure;
No plot so narrow, be but Nature there,
No waste so vacant, but may well employ
Each faculty of sense, and keep the heart
Awake to Love and Beauty!

Nick Cave

Nick Cave is presumably referencing Coleridge in his song ‘The Lime Tree Arbour’ which is on his LP ‘The Boatmans Call’³

Image from Amazon

The boatman calls from the lake
a lone loon dives upon the water
I put my hand over her
down in the lime tree arbour

The wind in the trees is whispering
whispering low that I love her
She puts her hand over mine
down in the lime tree arbour⁴

Cave uses the word ‘Linden’ in the song ‘There She Goes, My Beautiful World’:

The elm, the ash and the linden tree,
The dark and deep, enchanted sea,
The trembling moon and the stars unfurled,
There she goes, my beautiful world ⁵

Image from Amazon

A critic on Pitchfork.com wrote that:

Cave [sings] extensively of linden trees and cornflowers, red-breasted robins, and gamboling lambs⁶

…but these are the only two references I could find. I don’t believe that the ‘linden’ has any particular spiritual or religious significance in either case. In the latter, the Linden is just one tree in a list. In the Lime Tree Arbour, Cave must be referencing Coleridge – ‘Lime Tree Bower’ and ‘Lime Tree Arbour’ are too close for it to be otherwise. Perhaps the intention is to reflect the small miracle of ‘her hand over mine’ with Coleridge’s view of the beauty of the smallest elements of nature.

O-zone

More popular recently than either Nick Cave, Coleridge or Vaughaun Williams is the song ‘Dragostea din tei‘ by the Moldovan band O-Zone.

It’s possible, even probable, that you might know the song without recognizing the title. It’s also known as the ‘Miya Hee‘ song or the ‘Numa Numa song. It was a big hit across Europe in 2004. At the time of writing there is a video on Youtube here:

• YouTube – O-Zone – Dragostea Din Tei

The most obvious translation for this is ‘Love out of the linden trees’.

Image from Amazon

There is a full translation of the song here Romania – Dragostea Din Tei – Miya Hee – Numa Numa – Lyrics in Romanian and English , and the Wikipedia page is very good.

According to Wikipedia, ‘linden’ in the song is one of the following:

• a reference to Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu .
• a reference to a Romanian children’s book “The Hoopoe in the linden tree” by Ion Creang?
• a use of the Russian sense of Linden, meaning ‘not strong’ or ‘poor quality’
• a reference to ‘Tei’ in Bucharest, which is a popular area for student accommodation
• a corruption of the Romanian ‘dintai’, meaning ‘first one’

I think it’s fair to say that the rest of the words of the song don’t give much away, so the listener is free to choose their own interpretation.

Linden and Lyndon as names

Finally on the word ‘Linden’, it’s also been used as a name – either spelt as Linden or Lyndon. The most famous ‘Lyndon’ is probably Lyndon B Johnson the 36th President of the United States, who succeeded John F. Kennedy in 1963⁷

Image from Amazon

According to the ‘Behind the Name’ website, the surname ‘Lyndon’ is

From an English surname which was derived from a place name meaning “lime tree hill” in Old English ⁸

The given name ‘Linden’ is:

Derived from German Linde meaning “lime tree”.⁹

Footnotes

1. Online Etymology Dictionary
2. Online Etymology Dictionary
3. The Boatman’s Call
4. – the link is to an Amazon mp3 of the song
5. Nick Cave – There She Goes, My Beautiful World – the link is to an Amazon mp3 of the song
6. Pitchfork: Album Reviews: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
7. The Presidents | The White House
8. Behind the Name: Meaning, Origin and History of the Name Lyndon
9. Behind the Name: View Surname: Linden

Maples come in many different varieties. The sugar maple is tapped to make maple syrup.

The maple leaf is featured in the flag of Canada.

It has been a . . . → Read More: Maplecroft, Salisbury and Maple Crescent, Wilton]]> Maplecroft is on the ‘Ridings Mead’ estate, to the south of the city centre. Maple Crescent is in the Fugglestone area on the east of Wilton.

Maples come in many different varieties. The sugar maple is tapped to make maple syrup.

The maple leaf is featured in the flag of Canada.

It has been a symbol of Canada since the 1830s (¹), but the flag was not officially adopted until 1965, when it replaced the Union Jack (²)

(³)

Visiting Salisbury?

For accommodation, see the Hotels in Salisbury page.

Footnotes

1. Canadian heritage website
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Canada
3. Image from Wikipedia

I don’t know if any or all of these places are named in reference to . . . → Read More: Oakway Road, Salisbury, Oak Tree Field and Oak Ash Road, Wilton]]> Oakway Road is to the north of Salisbury, near Pauls Dene Crescent. Oak Ash Green is in Wilton, off South Street. Oak Tree Field is on the way to Odstock, to the south of the city, near Salisbury District Hospital.

I don’t know if any or all of these places are named in reference to actual oak trees.

The oak is seen as a tree of great strength – with ‘Hearts of Oak’, which is literally the middle of the oak tree, symbolizing bravery. The oak is seen as the national tree of England (Icons – A portrait of England, and famously Charles II is supposed to have hidden in an oak tree at Boscobel, near Wolverhampton.

These are part of a small group of roads which are named after trees – the others being Cedar Close, Hazel Close and Rowan Close.

There are two obvious meanings of the word ‘Poplar’ in this context.

There many streets in the Salisbury area named after both trees (Sycamore Drive, Syringa Court, The Beeches) and parts of London (Westminster Road, West End . . . → Read More: Poplar Way, Salisbury]]>

Poplar tree

There are two obvious meanings of the word ‘Poplar’ in this context.

• the Poplar tree – from the Salicaeae family
• Poplar in the East End of London

There many streets in the Salisbury area named after both trees (Sycamore Drive, Syringa Court, The Beeches) and parts of London (Westminster Road, West End Road, Highbury Avenue).

Poplar Avenue is though fairly clearly named after the tree. It is in the part of the Bishopdown Farm estate (on the North East edge of Salisbury) that has a couple of arboreal names – it adjoins Ash Crescent, and is close to Sycamore Drive

Scottish streetnames in Poplar

While researching this I found an interesting post on an East London history website on the derivation of some of the street names in Poplar.

I know the area a little bit, and I’d always been puzzled by some of the names in the area, especially by the naming of Culloden school (which I think was the subject of a BBC2 documentary a few years ago).

The When Scotland met Poplar explains this to a large extent. Much of the area was bought by Hugh McIntosh of the East India Dock Company, who named much of the area after elements of his Scottish heritage.

Further to this, there is a belief that a more general Scottish influence in the Isle of Dogs area is demonstrated by aspects of Millwall Football Club. Although Millwall now play at the New Den in Deptford, the club was founded, and the area of Millwall itself, is North of the River, just South of Poplar Google map of Millwall. This theory is, to a large extent, de-bunked on the Millwall History fans’ website The Millwall History Files.

The Poplar Tree

There are three types of poplar tree native to Britain – the aspen, the white poplar and the rarer black poplar Woodland Trust – guide to trees.

There are legends around the aspen in particular.

One legend has it that the Cross that Jesus was crucified on was made of aspen. This is why the leaves appear to constantly tremble. Gardening – Native tree 6, the trembling poplar – Galway Independent

Visiting Salisbury?
For accommodation, see the Hotels in Salisbury page.

Its most distinctive feature, at least to somebody as ignorant of botany as I am, is the ‘helicopter’ seed.

It is not native to Britain and some conservationists try to remove it 1

The word sycamore is actually derived from a different tree altogether . . . → Read More: Sycamore Drive SP1]]> The sycamore tree is a member of the maple family.

Its most distinctive feature, at least to somebody as ignorant of botany as I am, is the ‘helicopter’ seed.

It is not native to Britain and some conservationists try to remove it ¹

The word sycamore is actually derived from a different tree altogether – the ‘Ficus Sycomorus’, which is a biblical fig tree with similar shaped leaves ²

Footnotes

1. Royal Forestry Society of England, Wales and Northern Ireland Home Page
2. Sycamore – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The maple leaf is, famously, the distinctive feature of the Canadian flag. It has been seen as symbol of Canada since the 1830s 1, but the flag was not adopted until 1965, when Canada became the first county to replace the Union Jack with its . . . → Read More: The Maples SP2]]> The maple is a tree of the ‘Acer’ family.

The maple leaf is, famously, the distinctive feature of the Canadian flag. It has been seen as symbol of Canada since the 1830s ¹, but the flag was not adopted until 1965, when Canada became the first county to replace the Union Jack with its own flag ²

Footnotes

1. Canadian heritage website
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Canada

Oak The oak is seen as a tree of great strength – with ‘Hearts of Oak’, which is literally the middle of the oak tree, symbolizing the bravery. The oak is seen as the national tree of . . . → Read More: The Oakbournes SP1]]> ‘Oakbournes’ is an invented word, as far as I can tell, made from concatenating ‘oak and ‘bourne’.

Oak
The oak is seen as a tree of great strength – with ‘Hearts of Oak’, which is literally the middle of the oak tree, symbolizing the bravery. The oak is seen as the national tree of England [¹], and famously Charles II is supposed to have hidden in an oak tree at Boscobel, near Wolverhampton.

Bourne
The Oakbournes is on the Bishopdown Farm estate, and therefore in the Bourne valley – Bourne derives from the Saxon word for river – ‘burna’.

Footnotes

1. Icons - A portrait of England