There is much more to trees than the price they will fetch in the market place. In ancient Ireland trees were not only a vital resource at the heart of the economy providing everything from the timber of the palace to the to the harp of the king's musician but were also the keeper of human secrets as revealed in the story of Labhraidh Loinseach.

Trees are the dominant life forms on land. They are the longest, lived large living things on earth. 85% of earth's biomass in plants, and 90% of the plant biomass in trees. They provide us with raw materials in the form of timber and fuel, fruits and other things we can use, as well as the indispensable role forests play in the maintenance and regulation of vital environmental functions such as watershed protection, soil conservation and the maintenance of atmosphere quality.

The presence of trees makes a place more interesting, makes it a place in which we feel more at home. We were made to live in a landscape of open space with abundant trees 'All through the centuries trees were as much a part of peoples everyday experience as cars are today.

For the first 4000 years of it's human history Ireland was inhabited by peoples who lived by hunting and fishing and by gathering the plants of the wilder then fruits including especially trees. Trees provided many of the materials essential to society and this is reflected in the importance attached to trees in the old laws of Gaelic Ireland. Every tree had its uses and everybody knew every tree; ash for spears and Hurleys, alder for bridge piles and shields of aspen for magic wands. Several species of tree - Yew, Hazel, Hawthorn, Elder and mountain ash - were confided to have magical properties and powers. The hawthorn was linked with and with spring and marriage. Groves and individual trees played an important role in the lore of the druids and the oak was very important to them.
Most of the early Christian churches were founded on the site of druidic oats and groves. St Colmcille had a favourite oak at Kells and the Oakwood, Derry its name. Kevin at Glendalough had a special yew tree. Ciaran had one at Clonmacnoise and Bridget had a favourite great oak at Kildare. Durrow in Offaly was another of
St Colmcille's foundations with a very interesting sacred tree; it was a crab tree on which after the conversion of the pagan sanctuary, the crafts turned sweet.
As the population soared in the 18th and 19th century trees disappeared from the landscape. A mature tree of any kind could hardly be seen outside the walls of great demeans and in many places the only wood available for building was timber dredged from the depths of the bogs. The human need for trees was the last thing people in their growing millions thought of in their struggle to make ends meet. By the turn of the century, woodland cover in Ireland dwindled to half of one per cent, the lowest in Europe. Yet trees at holy wells were covered with stripes of cloth, 'monument trees' marked the spot where coffins were laid down 'Lone bushes' commanded great respect and the Whitethorn was famous for its curative properties.
In the past everybody, children and adults knew trees by their names. Today we know every star of television, cinema, the pop charts and sports, but no trees.
But we are discovering the value of woods and trees in new ways and we try to preserve them as an important part of our natural heritage. It is not only a question of covering land with woods but we must recover the lost reverence for tradition as shown by Colmcille and the others in their feelings for trees.