Rowan Crosses Used as Protective Charms
A record in The Hawthorn Archive, preserving folklore with its place, type and source context attached.
Small crosses and loops made from rowan wood were recorded in parts of Britain as protective objects associated with defence against witchcraft, bad luck and other feared harm. Surviving nineteenth-century examples from northern England are held in museum collections.
The objects could be placed at doors or fireplaces, attached to animals or carried by people. Their value as archive evidence lies in their material form: these are not merely later lists of symbolic meanings, but documented objects that can be compared with written accounts of protective custom.
Source trail: Pitt Rivers Museum collections and research on rowan charms; Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, Boscastle, collections relating to rowan protective objects.
Related Journal record: Rowan in British Folklore.