Description

The figure of Herne the Hunter with antlers on his head first appeared in Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor in 1597. Here he is described as one who walks round an oak at midnight, His story, in W. Harrison Ainsworth’s novel Windsor Castle, his spirit later leading a Wild Hunt during the winter months. He may be a folk memory of the antlered Celtic god Cernunnos, who would have been revered in the Windsor area, which remained Celtic longer than other nearby areas occupied by the Anglo-Saxons. Herne is now a deity in some modern Pagan groups and in Wicca, Stags and antlers are also discussed, especially in respect to deer in Windsor Forest, now Windsor Great Park.