By Isle of Wight Observer
The following two letters to the editor were published in the Isle of Wight Observer on 23rd February 1901. With many people currently upset about the plans to cut down the weeping beech tree in Church Litten, it’s clear that Islanders today share the concerns of their forebears.
DESTRUCTION OF TREES.
To the Editor of the Isle of Wight Observer.
Sir, – I note in your last issue the remarks with regard to the destruction of trees at Binstead. It is a small satisfaction to find that at last someone has taken notice of the matter; but that such apathy should have been displayed is, I fear, but a sign of the times; a token of an age of materialism, a period of vulgar utility, marked by aggressive ugliness. The beauty of Binstead and of Ryde almost entirely depends on the trees; take them away and there is little else to recommend them to the person of taste. The three oak trees which once made Cemetery Road have fallen under the sand of this improver; the Parish Council I am told are the improvers, but I doubt if many people care so long as they get an up-to-date wire fence; they can understand that.
Yours faithfully,
W. HAL GRAY.
Lorne Cottage, Binstead, February 20th, 1901
To the Editor of the Isle of Wight Observer.
Dear Sir, – I think we are much indebted to your valuable paper for having last week even the medium of opening up the question of tree slaughter at Binstead. We residents of the Borough of Ryde may be excused for not taking the matter up, seeing that Cemetery Road, Binstead, is somewhat out of the way, but that the Binstead people should have left the affair pass unchallenged is past understanding. Surely there are some lovers of the picturesque, some people of taste in the village, and if so, this unbroken silence is scarcely creditable to them. The preservation of the oak and elm is the sine qua non of beauty in this neighbourhood, and the sooner this is understood by the dwellers in this beautiful locality the better for their interests.
Yours, etc.,
J.B.
Ryde, Feb. 21st, 1901.