ARTICLES of GENERAL INTEREST<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n THE BIRCH BARK CROSS I am not sure if this story really happened to me.<\/p>\n A few years back I lived in a small village called Wenvoe between Cardiff and Barry. Wenvoe itself used to be a big farming estate back at the turn of the 19th to early 20th century. I used to take my dogs for a walk through Wenvoe Woods on a regular basis up to the Horse and Jockey Pub and have a cheeky pint without the Mrs knowing about it (am sure she knew).<\/p>\n I was walking in the woods one sunny day with my two dogs (a Pomeranian and a King Charles). My route took me through the \u201cOrchid field\u201d (It is managed as a traditional meadow with an annual mowing to encourage the sort of wildflowers that are fast disappearing from our landscape).<\/p>\n At the top of the field, there is an old bench which I headed to for to sit down with the dogs. I was half dozing off with the sun shining on my face, when I felt a shadow standing before me. I looked up from the bench to see the shadow of a man wearing a brimmed hat. The light was shining behind him, giving him a glow like form. “Hello” the figure said. I put my hand to cover my eyes, “Hello” I said back.<\/p>\n There was no sound of traffic and all I could hear was Crow cawing about five times. The man said, “Nice dogs you have got there”. The dogs where around the man\u2019s feet rolling around. The man said, “My name is Thomas Jones”. I said, “Like the singer”. “Who?” said the man.<\/p>\n The man had what looked like a felt suit and hat and looked quite old fashioned in appearance. He turned to me and said, “I am the local Woodsman for Wenvoe Woods. I live at the back of Ravenswood Farm”.<\/p>\n “Oh\u201d I said, \u201cI moved to the village about three months ago”. The man put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a long strip of bark of a tree. As I watched his hands move with subtle dexterity, The man produced something out of the bark. “This is for you” said the man and handed me the bark he had being working on.<\/p>\n The man said goodbye to me and gave the dogs a rub on their heads. He headed towards the shrubs to the right of me, but the sun shone straight into my eyes. When I adjusted to the light, the man had disappeared as quickly as he appeared. I looked down at my hands and saw that the man had left me a freshly made cross out of the bark. I stuck the cross into my pocket and carried on to the pub.<\/p>\n I was talking to some of the old locals about what had just happened to me and they all started laughing. One local said, “You’re very blessed, you have just met old Tom.” The local man went on to tell me that Tom was the woodsman for the Wenvoe estate over a hundred years ago.<\/p>\n The old local said “Did he give you a Birch Bark Cross.” He then took me over to plaque on the wall\u00a0with a dark cross inside of it. The local said ” There’s only two in the village; one in here and one in St Marys Church in the village.” He said, ” They are both around one hundred years old.”<\/p>\n When I got home, I put my hand in my pocket and took out the cross, it had turned a dark colour and looked very old and brittle. I still have it in a box on the wall in the house.<\/p>\n This is a fictitious story, so don’t go looking for any crosses.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n ARTICLES of GENERAL INTEREST THE BIRCH BARK CROSS I am not sure if this story really happened to me. A few years back I lived in a small village called Wenvoe between Cardiff and Barry. Wenvoe itself used to be a big farming estate back at the turn of the 19th to early 20th century. I used to take my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[431,228],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-4ks","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16748,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16748","url_meta":{"origin":16644,"position":0},"title":"Crufts 2026","author":"Alan Williams","date":"26th March 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"ARTICLES of GENERAL INTEREST CRUFTS 2026 Eva and Asher were doggy superstars at Crufts 2026. Asher made his debut in the Dog Obedience Championship on Saturday 7th March. His owner, Carolyn, was thrilled to be placed 4th with him. Eva was first to work her obedience test the following day\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Crufts.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11834,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=11834","url_meta":{"origin":16644,"position":1},"title":"Planning Applications for July 2022","author":"Alan Williams","date":"7th July 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Planning Applications for July 2022 .\u00a0 Planning Applications \u2022 Glennburnie, Port Road. - Proposed removal of a dead tree on site. No objection \u2022 Springfield Cottage, Old Port Road - Proposed removal of dead silver birch tree. No objection \u2022 66 Burdons Close - Conversion of double garage into habitable\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Planning Applications"","block_context":{"text":"Planning Applications","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=151"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16030,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16030","url_meta":{"origin":16644,"position":2},"title":"September Letters","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st September 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 AVE ET VALETE TO WENVOE I am writing this on the day before we move from Wenvoe to Dinas Powys, surrounded by boxes of all shapes and sizes. My wife Isobel has decided it is time to downsize from our five-bedroom house to a bungalow, so we are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Letters"","block_context":{"text":"Letters","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=138"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9920,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9920","url_meta":{"origin":16644,"position":3},"title":"Donation of a Moth Trap","author":"Alan Williams","date":"12th July 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group The donation of a Moth Trap to the Group by the Vale Nature Partnership has dramatically increased the number and variety of species we are finding and recording. Most moths fly at night and whilst we do find some of the day-flying moths or disturb some resting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Wildlife Group"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=48"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/buff-tip.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/buff-tip.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/buff-tip.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2041,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=2041","url_meta":{"origin":16644,"position":4},"title":"January Planning Updates","author":"Alan Williams","date":"29th December 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 January Planning Updates \u00a0 The following applications have been approved. \u00a0 \uf0b7 51, Gwenfo Drive, Wenvoe - Proposed two storey side extension and single storey front extension \u00a0 \uf0b7 Grange Avenue, Wenvoe - Fell one tree and reduce crown and canopy of 3 trees \u00a0 \uf0b7 Brynheulog, St Andrews\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Planning Updates"","block_context":{"text":"Planning Updates","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9506,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9506","url_meta":{"origin":16644,"position":5},"title":"Footsteps Dyffryn A favourite walk\u2026","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th March 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Footsteps Dyffryn A favourite walk is to Dyffryn as there are several routes that can be taken. Hopefully before long Dyffryn Gardens will open and refreshment can be taken there before returning home. The photo below is of the mid-week walkers a couple of years ago, everyone with a smile\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Tinkins-Wood.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Tinkins-Wood.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Tinkins-Wood.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Tinkins-Wood.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16644"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16644"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16645,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16644\/revisions\/16645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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