Experts have declared the 200-year-old trees to be unsafe, and the 19 on the right-hand side of the road from Rushden are already in the progress of being felled.

Mrs. G. Willmott, of Knuston Home Farm, told us that this row of trees, although actually outside the farm boundary, was their responsibility. “Although it is a great pity they have to go, they have had their day,” she told us. “They have started falling and are a danger to people passing underneath and particularly to the buses. Two years ago a child had his head split open by a piece of branch falling.”

The 18 elms on the camp side – part of Knuston estate – are expected to be felled in due course. This part of the estate was recently purchased for cultivation by Mr. F. Dunmore, of Irchester, who expects to take over at the end of September.