Sticking hundreds of small denomination coins into tree trunks is apparently a popular way of getting rid of illnesses.
At least that’s what the staff at a holiday attraction in Gwynedd discovered after investigating the story behind several coin-covered tree trunks in the vicinity of Italianate village Portmeirion.
The coin-covered trees have been traced back to the 1700s, when they were apparently used as wishing trees. People believed that a person suffering from an illness could hammer a coin into a tree trunks and the tree would take the illness away, but if someone removed the coin, they themselves would become ill. Whether some folks still believe this legend, or they do it simply because it’s fun is still a mystery, but the fact is this bizarre habit has spawned some pretty unbelievable sights that apparently unique to the UK.
http://www.cracktwo.com/2012/11/britains-mysterious-coin-covered.html
Ruminating 
Well it sure does look cool. I had never heard of this before.
If I came across this tree and happened to have a hammer and some small change in my pocket, I guess I would go at it too. Why not? If however I found myself in a financial predicament, I might attract suspicious glances as I tried to pay for a meal at the local inn with a number of curiously misshapen twenty pence pieces…
They have a tree like this in Lynmouth, Devon.