Holy, or Glastonbury, Thorn, Crataegus monogyna ‘Bilfora’, in St Luke’s churchyard, Goostrey, Cheshire.

According to information available in the church:

‘Legend has it that the Joseph of Arimathea, who owned the tomb of Jesus was buried in following the crucifixion, came to Glastonbury in Somerset and, when he threw his walking stick, a tree, the Glastonbury Thorn, began to grow.                                A shoot from that tree, which still grows today in Glastonbury, and which flowers much earlier than a normal Hawthorn or May, was presented to the vicar of Goostrey by Canon Vale of Holmes Chapel and was planted in the church yard opposite the war memorial in the presence of Goostrey schoolchildren on the festival of St Michael & All Angels in 1942.                                                                               In the year 2000 our tree was in flower on New Year’s Day.’