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Thornhill Square ash tree falls

January 5th, 2012. The collapsed ash tree in Thornhill Square, N1. Photos courtesy of Islington Tree Service

The Thornhill Square ash as it stood in July 2011, and the gap remaining after its collapse and clearance

At the beginning of January, 2012, the massive ash tree at Thornhill Square, N1, collapsed in spectacular fashion. The stump shows that its trunk was hollow, rotted internally and home to many borers or beetle larvae. Its fall took with it some nearby smaller trees and bushes and part of the railings. Many ash trees are in decline, shown by reduced growth, a thin crown and the die-back of branches. This grand old tree was showing such signs when photographed in July 2011.

The ash stump showing only a thin ring of structurally strong wood and its rotted interior

Nearly seven years later, by mid-November 2016, the ash stump has produced this strong, new wood

The regenerated growth promises to become a fine replacement tree

​Guides to ash tree problems are available from Iowa State University, Michigan State University, and the Forestry Commission.