200year old cedar in Dorset..

[Paul Barton]

Hmm, I can't work out how to embed the video...

[David Humphries]

Thanks Paul, great addition to the thread.

 

Very interesting in that such a high profile British Arb has taken this unique & instantaneous way to tackle the decision to remove this tree.

 

I take my hat off to Mr Barrell, and to be honest have learnt something new about his interest in heritage trees.

 

Should never judge a book I suppose.

 

I guess cynics will find his personal experience with the cedar gives a biased view of the situation.

But personally I believe that ownership and working historical knowledge of a tree should (where ever possible) be sought when a report of a tree is commissioned.

 

This has been one of the most fascinating threads (from my perspective) that has been posted here for a while (interestingly unposed at uktc by Mr Barrells peers)

 

I think this has the potential to have lasting repercussions on how similar heritage trees will be managed in the future.

 

 

.

[Adam M]

Interesting video. Wonder what the point was in paying out for a report on it if they weren't going to work to the recommendations.

[Stephen Blair]

I'd of loved it if those 2 cutters behind him cracked out a couple of hi 5's and lunges on the stem for here:lol:

 

Didn't sound like much rot when the saw was working through it:001_rolleyes:

[se7enthdevil]

zooming in on that butt it didn't look hollow to me. was it soft and mushy or did they just fell a good solid tree???

[codlasher]

Having looked after a considerable number of veteran trees and spent a good number of years having them surveyed. I would not have done anything different.

 

If the surveyors, and there were four of them working as a team, report had landed on my desk with 'fell' written upon it, that is what would have happened.

 

The NT risk/survey would have,as has been reported, done exactly the same.

 

I am still hunting for the pictures of a similar aged & sized cedar that crushed several cars in the past gales. Not that it was unsound but they are very well known to be hopeless in winds being so very brittle.

 

The insurers would have had a field day if I'd said...'oh it's an interesting tree, lets ignore the report!' How many folk would have stood up to be counted to leave it standing? Realistically, no one!

codlasher

[Adam M]

Having looked after a considerable number of veteran trees and spent a good number of years having them surveyed. I would not have done anything different.

 

If the surveyors, and there were four of them working as a team, report had landed on my desk with 'fell' written upon it, that is what would have happened.

 

The NT risk/survey would have,as has been reported, done exactly the same.

 

I am still hunting for the pictures of a similar aged & sized cedar that crushed several cars in the past gales. Not that it was unsound but they are very well known to be hopeless in winds being so very brittle.

 

The insurers would have had a field day if I'd said...'oh it's an interesting tree, lets ignore the report!' How many folk would have stood up to be counted to leave it standing? Realistically, no one!

codlasher

 

You should probably watch the video. They NT went against the advice of the report which said "roots are pucka, trees a goodn".

[codlasher]

Ah, the cedar mentioned as falling and crushing. It took two weeks to move it all to the sawmill where it was broken down into pieces small enough to fit the saws. It was planked into stock and put in a barn, under cover for a year or so.

This stock was then turned into ten doors, four walls of panelling, several hundred yards of skirting, architrave and other joinery pieces.

All this timber still lays in a beautiful Chilterns property. The panelling has had an interesting history but is still in the room for where it was built similar the doors and finishes. A couple of famous people have lived and enjoyed the timber too so there is a happy, in my opinion, ending to trees such as this...

I still have a little table and a couple of boards. The table is nowhere as nice as some of the pieces that are made by folk on this forum, se7enthdevil for one....and my farms name sign is another piece so will outlast me!

codlasher.

Edited January 11, 2014 by codlasher

[Tom D]

I'm no tree hugger, I have felled loads of big trees, some much older than that one. However, felling that is a disgrace, the tree appears to be surrounded by grass, with a road near by, surely either moving the target or some veteran tree pruning would have sufficed. What is impressive about trees like these is their girth not their height, heavy pruning, halfing that tree if necessary would have reduced the wind sail to such an extent that it could probably have kept going indefinitely.

 

Very poor tree management IMO, whats worse it comes from a heritage organisation, if the NT can't get it right who can?

[codlasher]

I got a lot of stick for 'doing it wrong'.

Others said nicer words.

Horses for courses:biggrin:

That was the the chair in which I sat!

codlasher