The 400-year-old cedar at All Saints’ Church, South Oxhey, was cut down despite local protests due to fungal infection.
They had planned to cut it down earlier. People protested and stopped it then. But the church hired some experts who checked out the cedar tree and found a bad, incurable fungal infection.
Locals tried really hard to save the tree. People even formed a human shield once to protect it from being cut. Ryan White spoke to the Watford Observer, stating his sadness about the tree.
Ryan mentioned that he is not a tree expert, but the tree seemed healthy to him. Now there is just a big, empty space. Residents even raised money for a test and got another tree surgeon to check it.
Sadly, the new expert agreed with the first one: the tree needed to come down. Many people signed a petition to save it, seeing it as important local history. But the church decided to remove the tree anyway.
The church says the fungus caused decay inside. They said the weakened tree was a danger. Ryan knew saving it was a long shot and wished he could have been there to stop it.
The tree meant a lot to many people there. The church plans to plant another tree soon to replace the one they cut down. Ryan hopes they will not build a car park there.
The church said they do not plan a 5G mast, which some thought was the reason for cutting it. So, that’s what happened with the big cedar tree. It is quite a sad story for the town.