The Alexander Keiller avenue of horse chestnuts, which runs alongside the A4361 at Avebury, and which was planted by Keiller in 1937, has been felled (the trees are visible in the header photograph above). The National Trust said the trees had phytopthora (bleeding canker) and despite its efforts it was not possible to save them. A National Trust spokeswoman is reported as saying that the Trust will be, "...replacing them with lime trees which are well-suited to the area..." The horse chestnuts on the other side of the road are on private land and presumably will eventually also succumb to phytopthora and will also need to be cut down. If the proposed housing development on the former Bonds Garage site (visible on the right in the above photograph) is allowed to go ahead this will almost certainly mean that the new houses will be visible from the bank of the north-east quadrant of the Avebury Henge.
http://aveburymatters.blogspot.com/2009/01/north-east-quadrant-of-avebury-henge_17.html and here -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/8491237.stm
