A MIGHTY yew tree standing in the garden of the Haslemere house in which Victorian author George Eliot wrote Middlemarch is no more.

The tree, believed to be around 800 years old, was in the back garden and did not have a tree protection order, but several Liphook Road residents contacted the Herald to say how upset they were when it was felled last week.

The owners said: “We feel very bad if this has caused any upset – that was never our intention. The house is listed and has a blue plaque but the tree is not protected and so we were within our rights to fell it.

“It was a huge tree and we wanted to get more light into our garden.”

The yew received a mention in Eliot’s novel, which was written when she rented the house in the summer of 1871.

The author wrote: ‘... a little circuit was made towards a fine yew tree, the chief hereditary glory of the grounds on this side of the house. As they approached it, a figure, conspicuous on a dark background of evergreens, was seated on a bench, sketching the old tree...’.

One concerned resident said: “The tree is so old and so much part of the local community, as it is part of the landscape from Liphook Road. There must be many local people who will be devastated.”

Another told the Herald: “We are in mourning for the very ancient and beautiful yew tree, which has recently been cut down in the Middlemarch house, Liphook Road. It is a great loss to the area and to the ecosystem.”