Late last month, FOGG working party member John Hopkins sent in the following:
We lost a big silver birch which had been dying at the top end of the Goyle last Friday. It landed in a neighbours garden. All removed yesterday apart from the rootstock thanks to EDDC. See pictures:
Incidentally I called the rootstock a “moot” yesterday, as that was what the old Devon guys used to to describe it. A bit of research and found this on the history of Devon dialect:
“Thicky Gert moot” my grandfather’s description of a large tree stump.
BBC – Devon – Discovering Devon – Your favourite Devon Dialect words and expressions
To finish, here’s an online discussion on the song ‘Linden Lea’:
Within the woodlands, flow’ry gladed,
By the oak trees’ mossy moot;
The shining grass blades, timber shaded,
Now do quiver under foot;
“A ‘moot’ is a meeting place and I imagine that people would meet under the shade of the oak tree where the ground was soft and mossy…”
“I can imagine a lovely mossy tree stump being a seat at a meeting place…”
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