king of Northumbria, is uncertain".

The name and the association with King Oswald have attracted more fanciful interpretations. According to legend, one of Oswald's dismembered arms was carried to an ash tree by a raven. Miracles were subsequently attributed to the tree, and the legend has it that this was "Oswald's Tree", and gave its name to the town. A spring called 'Oswald's Well' is supposed to have originated where the bird dropped the arm from the tree, though one historian has suggested that it was likely to have had sacred associations