The stump of the iconic cemetery cedar felled by Rother District Council (RDC) – see article in previous Rye News – has become a focus for local people upset about the fate of the tree.
At least a dozen protest messages, including valedictory poems, have been scrawled on the stump. Suffice to say, none of the words are complimentary to the council.
Earlier this week, RDC removed all the cut timber from the felled cedar tree in Rye Cemetery. The tree, which had a diameter of 2.2m at its base, could have stood in the centre of the cemetery for at least 150 years. According to the council, the tree had to go because it was diseased and in poor health.
However, the cedar’s timber was in remarkably good condition and it’s a mystery where this has now gone. Indeed, the council risks compounding its lack of consultation about the tree’s felling with a similar information deficit about the many tonnes of valuable timber.
One suggestion was that the timber could be used to make public benches, furniture and so on, and some of it given away to local sculptors, but the council has not officially explained what is happening to the timber, nor has it provided details about where sculptors can get hold of it.
Councils are funded by the public and it could be argued that local people have a right to valuable assets like timber grown on public land, or at least to know what’s happening to the timber from landmark trees. It is to be hoped that the wood is not simply burned.
Cedar is a highly valuable wood with many uses, including structural timber, and as wardrobes and clothes drawers, where it acts as a natural insect (moth) repellent. The wood produces an essential oil similar to turpentine. Cedar was once thought to represent purification, incorruptibility and eternal life – which may explain the tree’s position in the cemetery.
Image Credits: Graham Burton .
Hi Edward, yes there is a really big rabbit off here I agree. This statement has been on the Labour for Rye and Winchelsea Facebook page for 4 days.
Update on Rye Cemetery Cedar:
This morning, I paid an early visit to the cemetery to check the status of the remaining timber from the Cedar, earmarked for a sculpture project. To my dismay, after speaking to the contractor I discovered that the timber had been removed but not in the manner we had agreed upon. Instead of being taken away in manageable pieces suitable for sculpting, it had been reduced to much smaller, unusable fragments, and its whereabouts are now unknown.
This deviation from our agreed plan and the sickening waste of a beautiful tree has left me and many others deeply saddened and angered. I will be making a request for a thorough investigation into how such a situation could have unfolded.
Even though the site of the Cedar tree falls outside the boundaries of mine and Cllr Creaser’s ward and therefore beyond our formal jurisdiction as Rother District Councillors, both of us, alongside local groups and volunteers, have invested countless hours to ensure a fitting memorial would be established. It is truly unbelievable and profoundly distressing that it has come to this point for those of us who held the Cedar in such high regard.
Rest assured, we will keep residents updated.