Ancient tree at Sausmarez Manor found uprooted
A TREE thought to be between 600 and 700 years old was found uprooted at Sausmarez Manor yesterday morning.
Manor owner Peter de Sausmarez was puzzled as to what had happened to the sweet chestnut, which has weathered high winds and severe storms without a problem. The wind speed on Tuesday night was between a force 1-2, from the south-east, according to the Met Office, and there was no rain.
‘It was an extraordinary thing,’ said Mr de Sausmarez.
‘It just keeled over. You can see there is a great hole where it came out, but you can’t see anything else going on underneath.’
The tree was one of the last two sweet chestnuts in the grounds of the manor, with the others having died off over the years.
Mr de Sausmarez called tree surgeons to remove the tree, and he said they would be investigating what caused it to fall.
While the extraction work was taking place the Sculpture Park walk had to be shortened, so the price of admission was halved.
