Wednesday 2 April 1986
The pleasant avenue of beech trees at Corton Wheatsheaf, which form a nave over the back road through the Wylye Valley, particularly splendid as one enters Corton from the Tytherington direction, have unfortunately been ravaged by bark disease (not for the first time), and remedial action is currently taking place.
Forty trees here were felled seven or eight years ago (circa 1978), and a further 40 are being cut down now. The owner of the trees, Mr. William Witt, of Sundial Farm, Corton, says he is not sure how many trees will survive the current action but at least 30 are still standing.
The trees have offered welcome shelter to Mr. Witt’s other holding, Model Farm, on the bend of Corton Wheatsheaf, during some recent gales, and the loss of these beeches is now keenly felt. Two dozen young trees have been planted as replacements.
Mr. Witt, who has a herd of Friesian dairy cattle, has been farming at Corton for 54 years. He says he does not know how old the beech trees are at Corton Wheatsheaf Avenue but they had been planted far too close together. Some have grown too high, making 60 or 70 feet, instead of the usual 30 to 40 feet to be expected; growing narrow and tall instead of forming a wider shape had they been planted at a more suitable distance apart.