Theresa May told Britain that there was no such thing as a "magic money tree". Apparantly she was mistaken.
The origin of money trees, not uncommon in parts of Yorkshire, are believed to date back to pagan times when people believed mystical spirits lived in trees and by making offerings to the trees people would benefit from wisdom, healing and insight. It is a similar tradition to that of throwing coins into running water, fountains or wishing wells.
But the first recorded instance of a money tree where a fallen branch had coins hammered in seems to date to the 1700’s in Scotland near Argyll. Queen Victoria even mentioned there being one near Gairloch in the Highlands in one of her diary entries.
The belief associated with money trees seems to come from the folklore that you could rid yourself of an illness by hammering a coin into a tree. But conversely if someone took a coin out from one of the trees that they would fall ill. This then evolved with people believing that they would be granted a wish if they drove a coin past the bark into the tree’s wood.
