Locals’ fury as 1,000-year-old yew tree that witnessed the Battle of Hastings is felled after Sycamore Gap scandal
LOCALS have expressed their fury after a 1,000-year-old yew tree that witnessed the Battle of Hastings was felled.
The 40ft-high tree was allegedly cut down on Thursday morning in a field near Uckham Lane, Battle, East Sussex.
The site is just a mile away from Senlac Hill – the generally accepted location for the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Qualified tree surgeon Paul Lawrence discovered the tree lying on its side about 100 yards away from its original location.
The arboriculturalist, 51, had sprinkled his grandfather’s ashes at the base of the tree.
“I first saw it yesterday morning when walking the dog,” he told The Argus. “I have a personal connection to the tree.”
He continued: “I was in complete and utter disbelief. The farmer has been doing work around the fields and cut back overgrown trees which I know needs to be done.
“I think it happened on Thursday. I was extremely emotional, I was very angry too.”
Rother District Council told the local newspaper it would not comment as the tree is on private land.
The Sun has contacted Sussex Police.
It comes after the Sycamore Gap tree in Northumberland was cut down overnight between Wednesday and Thursday last week.
Believed to have been about 300 years old, detectives called it a “deliberate act of vandalism”.
It was among the UK’s most photographed trees and was made famous in a scene in Kevin Costner‘s 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves.