The Green Man of the Woods
Pendant Hand Carved from an Out-of-Circulation British One Pound Coin
A Canon Piece of the Hairy Growler Collection
He began as currency.
Now he keeps the woodland.
Before he became a pendant, this piece moved quietly through ordinary life.
An out-of-circulation British one pound coin, passed from hand to hand, carrying its practical value through everyday exchange. Over time it was withdrawn, its first purpose complete — too familiar to be treasured, too easily forgotten.
But some metal is too full of character to be lost to scrap.
Rather than melting the coin down, it was opened at the bench and slowly transformed. From within the circle of the old pound emerged a face long rooted in British folklore:
the Green Man,
keeper of leaf and branch
Not added to the metal.
Revealed through it.
The Coin Had Already Lived
There is something different about working with metal that has already known the world.
This pound coin had its own first life — handled, exchanged, pocketed, worn smooth by years of touch. That ordinary history remains part of the finished piece. The original coin edge still frames the pendant, holding the memory of what it once was while allowing it to become something else.
It has not been made new.
It has been carried forward.
At the Bench
This pendant is made entirely by hand using traditional jewellery techniques.
The coin is cut open and worked directly, allowing the circular form of the pound to guide the composition. Oak leaves spread outward through the frame while the face of the Green Man emerges from the centre — beard flowing into leaf, features rising from the woodland itself.
Every line is carved individually.
Every leaf is shaped by hand.
Every cut is permanent.
No casting.
No mould.
No duplicated surface.
Only tools, patience, and the slow uncovering of what the metal can hold.
The Green Man
The Green Man is one of the oldest figures in British visual folklore.
He appears in carvings, churches, woodlands, stonework, and remembered stories — not as a fixed character, but as a recurring presence. A face made of leaves. A spirit of growth. A reminder that what seems to fade is often only preparing to return.
He represents:
In the Hairy Growler world, the Greenman stands close to the heart of the woodland mythology. Where the hare seeks, the fox wanders, the owl witnesses, and the wolf calls, the Green Man remains rooted.
He is not movement.
He is return.
A Canon of the Hairy Growler World
Some works come quietly to define a collection.
They gather its symbols, methods, and deeper concerns into a single object without needing to announce themselves.
The Green Man of the Woods is one of those works.
It carries the essential Hairy Growler language:
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historic material preserved rather than melted
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traditional hand carving and engraving
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folklore rooted in British landscape
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quiet transformation over display
This is not simply a pendant with a face in leaves.
It is one of the works through which the collection explains itself.
Oak and the Woodland Lineage
The leaves surrounding the face are not incidental.
Oak has long stood as a symbol of endurance, wisdom, and rooted strength. In Hairy Growler’s woodland language, oak belongs to the oldest layer of the forest — deep-rooted, weathered, carrying continuity through changing seasons.
So the Green Man appears here not only as a face in foliage, but as a figure inseparable from the oak itself.
Woodland given form.
Memory given features.
A Note from the Woodland
In the Hairy Growler world, the Green Man does not arrive with noise. He appears when something thought forgotten begins to live again. Old silver, old stories, old roots — none of them vanish entirely.
They return in another form.
Materials
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Out-of-circulation British one pound coin
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Hand cut and hand engraved Green Man and oak leaf detail
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Sterling silver chain and handmade clasp
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Handmade in England
Each piece is individually shaped. No two are ever exactly alike.
Time Horizon
Once, this metal moved through the world as currency. Now it rests close to the wearer, carrying a quieter significance. In time, it will gather another layer of history — not through exchange, but through being worn, kept, and remembered.
Once, this metal passed through ordinary life unnoticed.
At the bench it was given stillness, reshaped not to erase its past but to continue it. Now the Green Man returns through the old coin — not spent, but kept — carrying the woodland forward into another life.
And the roots deepen still.
Canon Note
This pendant has come to sit at the heart of the woodland lineage within the Hairy Growler collection — where old metal, old symbols, and the enduring life of the woods meet.
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