Holy trees occupy a particular place in Irish folk belief, often growing beside a well, a grave, or a crossroads, and typically marked by the offerings left by visitors over generations: strips of cloth, coins pressed into bark, small tokens tied to branches. The practice of leaving such offerings, sometimes called clooties or rags, has continued in parts of Ireland with little interruption from early Christian times into the present.

The formal designation of this site as a monument acknowledges something that local communities have long understood: that certain trees carry a weight of association that outlasts any single generation's memory of why they were first considered special. In Ireland, hawthorns appear most frequently in this role, traditionally regarded as fairy trees as well as holy ones, and the two categories were not always kept distinct. To interfere with such a tree, even in the course of agricultural work, was widely considered deeply unlucky, and that belief has preserved many examples that would otherwise have been cleared from fields long ago. Without more detailed records available for Roevehagh specifically, the particular species, the traditions attached to it, and any associated features of the site remain unconfirmed.