Traders Passage, as most Rye residents will know, loosely joins the bottom of Watchbell Street with the bottom of Mermaid Street.
Two large well-established oak trees growing in the cliff face between houses in the Strand and Traders Passage were deemed to be “causing rock falls and contributing to instability of the cliff” by Rother District Council, and so were destined to be cut down starting the week of September 5.
See the photographs of brave young men!
After the first oak nearest The Hope Anchor was roughly cut back, the tree fellers found fledglings in the other oak tree, so a long rain check ensued.
Now as you can see from further photos, the second oak has been half cut back. I gather from the men doing the work that it has been decided to leave them both semi-pollarded. No reason given, except that I think when you completely kill a mature tree you can get trouble with land heave when the root system dries out and obviously shrinks. So possibly not a bad compromise.
Watch this space for more action and photographs.
Image Credits: Col Everett .
Living in Fairlight we take cliff stability issues very seriously. A shame to lose any Oak, but it sounds as if the alternative is far worse.