Glasgow Crest: The Tree That Never Grew
Tall tree with sun shining through. Source: Jan Huber on Unsplash
By Jenna Thomson
The Glasgow Coat of Arms is a historic symbol of pride made up of four symbols. The ‘tree that never grew’, the ‘bird that never flew’, the ‘fish that never swam’ and the ‘bell that never rang’. These symbols have represented different meanings over the centuries but in an era of extreme climate change these symbols have a more downbeat interpretation.
The ‘tree that never grew’ was originally meant to reference a legend about Glasgow’s Saint Mungo. The tale speaks of a young St Mungo watching over a fire at his monastery that was extinguished by a group of young boy. He awoke and snapped the frozen branches off a nearby hazel tree and used them to relight the fire by praying.
Nowadays in modern Glasgow ‘the tree that never grew’ could be referring to the strain city life has put on the environment. With a bustling city centre covered in concrete, large buildings, and various exhaust fumes it’s clear to see why it’s hard for cities such as Glasgow to stay green. Glasgow does have some beautiful green spaces such as Kelvingrove Park, Pollok Estate and Glasgow Green to name a few, but in terms of being an eco-friendly city Glasgow appears to be lacking.
Pedestrian streets and parks have trees and other various shrubs and flowers planted to help improve the scenery as well as reduce pollutants but is Glasgow green enough?
The answer is yes, kind of…
The Office for National Statistics published a report in 2018 stating that Glasgow’s various plant life had helped removed 413,000kg worth of pollutants through vegetation in 2015 and saved £59.2 million in health costs. It also revealed that living near freely available green and blue spaces added on average £2,393 to property prices in Scottish inner-city areas. The cooling effects of these spaces in Edinburgh and Glasgow prevented £3.15 million in efficiency losses during 2018 in their 2020 report. However, more pollutants were emitted in 2015 than were removed, meaning that there is still work to be done to help reduce the city’s carbon footprint.
Keith Wishart from Scottish Forestry said: “Establishing trees in city centres is a good thing as they can enhance the attractiveness of the centre but more importantly be of benefit to wildlife and provide cooling for the built environment. Glasgow City Council has been playing its part in the national effort of tree planting. Recently, it, together with seven other local authorities, published a woodland strategy for the City Region with the aim of planting 18 million trees over the next 10 years. They wish to increase woodland cover in the City Region up to 21 per cent of its area.
“Councils can protect trees by placing Tree Preservation Orders on them. Scottish Forestry controls the removal of woodland through Felling Permissions – anyone wishing to fell trees must obtain permission from us in advance or they could be committing a crime. Penalties can include having to restock the trees that were illegally felled, and fines can include up to £5000 per tree.”
The Scottish Government is increasing the tree planting targets up to 18,000 hectares a year by 2024/25 – this will see around 36 million new trees planted each year.
The ’tree that never grew’ can now hopefully grow in a Glasgow that is much more environmentally friendly than one may have expected.