Farewell to a tree

This Old English Oak tree, estimated at ± 140 years of age, was today cut down. Although the job was not finished by late afternoon, it will probably be completed tomorrow.

For a long time we have had reason to believe that it was no longer a healthy tree, as it was outwardly visible that the bark and wood was rotting away.
We did not know to what extent the wood had been affected, and even had expert advice called in to give an indication.
All people agreed that perhaps it could last for a couple more years. Should it stay, then it would be wise to cut it down so that new growth would take the place of the old.

My husband never wanted to let the tree go, but this time he realised that the writing was on the wall.

Judging from the condition of the wood in the image, it was clearly even worse affected than anticipated. Almost the whole of the tree looked like this and it was just a matter of time before a major accident would happen.

We do have strong winds occasionally, and I guess that is all that is needed to cause problems.

This Oak stands on the Church grounds nearby, and is indeed beautiful. As it looks as if no trimming had been done to it over the years, most probably it is more healthy.

Sad to see our tree go, but we have little option.