If anything on this poisoned planet gives us hope of renewal it is this simple foliate head that has been there in one form or another since the beginning.

Since I began my search for the Green Man I have discovered that for every answer there are at least a dozen questions and I am no near a firm understanding of this mysterious figure than I was when I started. I do know one thing though: a symbol that is found all over Western Europe and which appeared in the churches and cathedrals over a four hundred year period was neither something trivial nor purely decorative. The Green Man has a story to tell, if only we could hear it.

I am offering these notes/images/ideas in the spirit of knowledge and ask only that you respect that. Ideas are not copyright and I am merely picking up and running with a ball that was first thrown into the air by Lady Raglan and was carried much further by the late Kathleen Basford and the late William Anderson both of whom produces excellent and stimulating books. My Little Book of the Green Man was published in 1998 and has provoked a great deal of interest and some interesting correspondence.

Writing to me
Please remember that if you write to me on the subject of the Green Man I may not be able to reply. There quite honestly aren’t enough hours in the day for me to write individually to all the people who email me. So accept my apologies in advance. Write me your comments, thoughts whatever but please understand that I probably won’t be able to reply.

Mike Harding - 1996/1999