Oldest tree comes crashing down in high winds at Midlands beauty spot
An ancient beech thought to be the oldest at a Midland beauty spot has been uprooted in high winds.
The landmark beech which stood on the Clent Hills between Halesown and Stourbridge for more than 250 years, was blown over by heavy gusts on Wednesday afternoon, narrowly missing walkers at the National Trust site.
Among those to hear it fall across the footpath at about12.30pm was trust walk guide Adrian Jones, who had walked past it with a group of visitors moments earlier.
Mr Jones, 67, of Quarry Lane, Halesowen, said: "Yesterday we were finishing a four-mile walk and we'd got to the easy access path near the Nimmings car park when we heard a massive thud behind us. Someone came up and said the tree toppled over in front of a man and his daughter. They seemed quite calm considering what had happened.
"We couldn't believe it. I'd walked past it about a minute before with my group and we'd been talking about it.
"As we passed the tree I had told the walking group that, in the past, the nickname for beech trees was ‘widow maker’ owing to their habit of dropping heavy branches on unsuspecting agricultural workers.
"Moments later the whole tree toppled over, ripping through the large roots. We were certainly lucky to have moved along the path.
"I turned back to look at it and take some pictures. I could see one of the big branches had gone straight down into the ground. There was a lot of branches and a lot of power in the fall even though it had no leaves on it."
Mr Jones added: "The park wardens just happened to arrive at the same time and very quickly got their chain saws out to clear the branches from where they were blocking the footpath.
"It fell straight across the footpath. It was a good job nobody was next to it. A branch fell off it previously, but there was no indication that the entire tree which has been there for between 250 to 300 years was going fall imminently. Beech trees are quite sturdy and like oaks tend to live for a very long time.
"It's quite sad really as it's been here for so long and weighs hundreds of tons. It was very sad to see the old tree go. It has been a notable feature of many of our guided walks and now we shall just see a hole and share a story of a near-miss," the retired manager added.
