Four of Burley-in-Wharfedale's oldest residents were given the chop this week after surgeons discovered they were truly rotten.

The four 100-year-old oak trees near the back of St Mary's Parish Church, Cornmill Lane, were felled on Tuesday, after residents feared for the safety of their homes.

The tree surgeons discovered the trees were rotten at the top and nearby residents were afraid that their homes could be damaged if the wind blew them

down.

Ilkley tree surgeon Mervyn Walker, who was responsible for cutting the village's original Pudding Tree down in 1972, said: "The trees are very tall and were very complicated to fell.

"They were in a 12sqft of land, which is only big enough for one to grow, and there were a lot of dangers in chopping them down because of telephone wires, nearby homes and tombstones in the cemetery.

"The trees were all getting rotten at the top and they had to take them down bit by bit."

Mr Walker's son John Walker felled the trees with two other tree surgeons.

(WN10P8A)