Diseased tree that was burial site of marmoset is felled by council

A TREE in Fair Mile, Henley, which is the site of a gravestone for a marmoset monkey has been felled due to safety concerns.

Henley Town Council cut down the red maple near the entrance to the Rupert House School playing fields because it was found to be rotting inside.

The tree is also the site of a gravestone for a monkey which died nearly 90 years ago.

While faded, the inscription still reads: “Jimmy. A tiny marmoset. August 16th, 1937. There isn’t enough darkness in the world to quench the light of one small candle.”

It is believed that this marmoset was the companion of an eccentric Miss Jekyll, a former nursing sister during the First World War.

She lived in New Street, was said to always dress in black, and was a regular customer at George Bushell’s photographic shop in Hart Street.

The tree and Jimmy’s gravestone featured in the 1985 BBC documentary Animal Crackers, about animal architecture. Presenter Lucinda Lambton said: “There is the most beguiling verse to him here, no more delightful one could be found the length and breadth of England to a monkey.

“I happened to have met an old man years ago who had known the little creature, apparently it would go round on its mistress’s neck, draped around her shoulders like a fox fur. Whenever anyone attempted to stroke it, it would lash out with a vicious and painful bite on their fingers.”

The town council said that following an inspection, the tree was found to have multiple brackets of Ganoderma, a type of fungi, on its stem and at ground level, as well as Laetiporus sulphureus, a bracket fungus, commonly known as “chicken of the woods”.

These fungal infections are known to cause significant internal decay in trees. The council then commissioned a further specialist assessment, which reported “major trunk decay”.

A resistograph microdrilling test, which is used to assess the internal condition of wood by measuring its resistance to drilling, confirmed central hollowing and basal decay.

It was reported that this decay had nearly reached through the sapwood on the south and south-west sides of the trunk, meaning it was “beyond safe limits” and “presented a potential risk to public safety”.

Janice Selkirk, from Watlington, said she was very upset after discovering that the tree had been taken down.

She said: “I discovered it when I came into Henley on Thursday last week. I drove past and looked at it, as I always do, and it wasn’t there, which was most upsetting. I drove into the Quaker Meeting House car park and burst into tears.”

Ms Selkirk, who grew up in Henley, said that she had known the tree all of her life. She said: “It’s just very, very sad. One grows up with these beautiful trees around and they are almost like old friends. I have known that tree for over 60 years.

“Unfortunately, when I look to it now it’s like the little headstone has become a gravestone to the tree.

“It’s almost a sentinel at the beginning of the Fair Mile. It was magnificent in autumn, the colours that the leaves turned were absolutely stunning.

“I would imagine it meant a lot to a lot of local people because of how beautiful it was.”

A spokeswoman for the council said it does not take the removal of a tree lightly but added: “Decisions of this nature are only made after careful professional assessment and with public safety as the top priority.”

The council has a “cut one down, plant two” policy to ensure the town’s green spaces and tree cover are maintained and grow.