BRIGG BOASTS MANY FINE TREES BUT HOW OLD ARE OUR BEST-KNOWN EXAMPLES?

Brigg Blog is sure many other people living in our town would be interested to know the dates when some of our very fine trees were planted.
This came to mind when Storm Ciara recently claimed a silver birch on Birch Avenue, which came to ground and had to be cleared from the highway by council workmen.
Having posted a couple of pictures of that damage at the weekend, a couple of days later we received an informative email from a Brigg Blog follower who is aware that when Brigg Urban District Council developed the Newlands housing estate in the run up to the start of the Second World War, the 'species of tree' names afforded to the streets were represented by the types of saplings planted.
Our correspondent tells us: "I had always been led to believe that the trees were all of the variety of their respective street name, and had assumed that they were therefore planted when the houses were built in the mid to late '30s. They were certainly all mature trees by the early '80s.
"I recall the trees in Elm Way were all cut down sometime about 1980, maybe a couple of years later.  I believe this was due to Dutch Elm Disease. Whether they had it, or they were just at risk of it, I don’t know.  I think all the replacement trees are beech, so even these will be about 40 years old now.
"There is a presumably early '70s aerial photo of Brigg with the Newlands estate on p54 of Ted Dodd’s first Brigg book. The elms in Elm Way are fairly large, but I can’t make out the fallen birch so it must be below eaves height, so maybe not 35 years old by then?"
In respect of the Newlands estate, he adds: "The first houses built were in Cherry Tree Avenue, and the bottom of Elm Way and Ash Grove.  These houses all had individual wooden garden sheds (I doubt any survive – I demolished one about 1990 as it was starting to rot). Part way along Elm Way and Ash Grove, the later-built houses have brick-built garden sheds, as do all the houses in Birch Avenue and Almond Grove. You can clearly see these on Google Maps."
For many years we used to arrange a spring picture of that year's Miss Scunthorpe Telegraph admiring the pink cherry blossom on Cherry Tree Avenue - after a colour printing press had been installed in the mid-1990s, obviously.
It would be good to discover the ages of various trees, including the very tall poplars at Brigg Recreation Ground, the distinctive avenues formed along Wrawby Road and Cadney Road, and the cluster on East Park near the Tintab shelter.
A few trees in Brigg are covered by Tree Preservation Orders, while some species, such as oak, can live for hundreds of years.
However, disease and very strong winds can sometimes take their toll; in other cases, trees can pose a danger to nearby properties.
But in this age of 'green' environmental concerns about the future of the planet, trees are often mentioned as having a very important role to play in terms of the air we breathe and the climate.
North Lincolnshire Council has a policy of planting five trees for every one on its land that's lost, though not necessarily in the same spot.
We'll have to wait and see whether a silver birch sapling is planted on Birch Avenue to replace the mature example now sadly lost.
Another damaged tree came down on Bigby Road some months ago (on a grass verge near the Monument) blocking a lane of the A1084 for a short period. It was removed but the stump is still evident today.
PICTURED ABOVE: The much-admired row of trees on the boundary of Brigg Recreation Ground - backdrop to thousands of football, hockey and cricket matches down the decades, with many more the come. The Rec, fashioned from farmland, opened in the early 1950s. Were they planted at the same time?

Trees lining Bigby Road - summer 2015.

Cadney Road trees in July 2015.

East Park trees five years ago.

Wrawby Road trees in 2015 - viewed from the Monument roundabout.