THE mystery fate of a massive king oak tree which once stood in a Ribble Valley wood has been revealed - by the man who chopped it down over half a century ago!

Villagers in Hurst Green have been trying to piece together the history of the tree which stood in Bailey Hall Wood in preparation for an exhibition of village life next month.

Local amateur historian Mrs Margaret Cartwright was stumped in her search for details of the tree.

And so she appealed for help through the Lancashire Evening Telegraph. The tree stood 127 ft high and had a girth of 16ft. It was 300 years old when felled on April 10, 1945.

Former woodcutter Jim McEwan remembers the job of felling the massive oak as if it were yesterday.

Mr McEwan, who lives in Blackburn, was a 21-year-old in April, 1945.

He was given the job by his employers J.W. Widdup and Sons, then of Bold Street Sawmills, Blackburn. Mr McEwan said: "It wasn't the biggest tree we had ever cut down but it was an almost perfect specimen and we got 400 cubic feet of saleable timber from it.

"It took my workmate and me two days to axe into it and then cut it down with a cross saw.

"We were paid the equivalent of £4.15p between us, which wasn't a bad couple of days pay!

"In those war days there was no timber coming into the country and we just chopped down what we were told to.

"There was talk of the Hurst Green oak tree going to London for use in the Houses of Parliament.

"However, I'm reasonably certain that it eventually went into the Liverpool area to be used for making beer barrels.

"The Lancashire Evening Telegraph covered the felling of the tree at the time with the headline 'King Oak The Mighty Falls.'

"Who would have thought that over half a century later, the tree would hit the headlines again! I'm happy to be able to clear up the mystery"

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