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Venerable treeSomme

Arbre de la Croix de Saint-Léger-lès-Domart

Saint-Léger-lès-Domart

Dimensions
A small-leaved lime standing alone on a bank in the middle of the fields, 70 m above sea level on the hill north of the village, in a grassed municipal plot enclosed by a hornbeam hedge, with a young lime for a neighbour
Period
About 600 years old according to the postcards of the 1930s, so nearly 700 today (Nièvre et Somme community of communes), 660 years according to the Wikipedia list, over 700 according to the tourist office; a surveying landmark on the land register of 1832; cross blessed on 26 April 1778 (present since 1770 according to Somme Tourisme), sawn down in 1900; processions until 1870; listed site since 26 February 1934 (DREAL database of sites; 24 February according to the Wikipedia article on the commune, 22 July 1993 according to the tourist office); plot bought by the commune in 1995
What stands there
The lime tree where the Benedictine nuns of Berteaucourt came up to sing to the Virgin, and where people prayed to draw a lucky number

Alone on its bank in the middle of open fields, a great small-leaved lime can be seen from afar on the hill that separates the valley of the Nièvre from that of the Domart; a younger lime keeps it company. It owes its name to the cross of Our Lady that it once sheltered: solemnly blessed on 26 April 1778 according to the community of communes, the cross was sawn down in 1900 and only its base can still be seen; it is said to be kept in the church of Bettencourt-Saint-Ouen, according to the community of communes and the tourist office, or in that of Saint-Léger according to others. Before the Revolution, the abbess of Berteaucourt-les-Dames and her Benedictine nuns would leave their convent, greet the hermitage of Saint Gautier on the way and climb the hill to sing hymns to the Virgin at the foot of the tree. In the 19th century the people of Saint-Léger still went up in procession, at Rogationtide and on the great feast days, until around 1870. Maurice Crampon, in his 1936 study of tree worship in Picardy, also reports that in 1840 a pedlar named Lelut taught under its branches a prayer so that young men would draw a lucky number and escape military service. The postcards of the 1930s gave it six hundred years; its trunk measures about five and a half metres round. It was listed in 1934 for "its own beauty and the many traditions it recalls", and it appears on the commune's coat of arms. Struck by lightning according to the community of communes, it had to be pruned, but it is still standing.

Communauté de communes Nièvre et Somme — Arrêt sur l'arbre de la Croix ↗

Further reading

Getting there : On the hill north of the village, beside the path that leads to the wood of Saint-Léger according to Wikipedia. The waymarked Arbre de la Croix trail (yellow PR markings, 6.5 km, about 2 hours) starts from the car park of the village hall. The plot belongs to the commune and is open to the public; benches have been placed under the tree.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

See it on the map OpenStreetMap Directions

Ambient sound

Arbre de la Croix de Saint-Léger-lès-Domart
Ybroc · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

In the same department

All places — Somme (12).