GhostHidden
The Domum Tree
Dulce domum: sweet home, the one he never reached.
Private, don't visit
- What's there
- Medieval school buildings and water meadows
- Legend from
- School legend
- Tone
- Dark history
A homesick boy carves a song into a tree, then walks into the river.
Winchester College sings Dulce Domum, its Latin song of going home, at the end of the summer term. According to legend the words were written in the 17th century by a pupil kept at school during the Whitsun holidays as a punishment. In one version he was tied to a pillar. He is said to have carved the words on the bark of a tree, later called the Domum Tree, and then thrown himself into the Logie, the river that runs through the school grounds. A Domum Cottage still stands in that area.
One sourceOnly one written account of this legend has been found so far.