Deforestation in Athlone

Coming back from a trip into town this morning I was shocked and dismayed to witness the felling of two distinctive trees in town. These very large and, one would imagine, old trees stood as a pair on the banks of the river Shannon in front of the castle. They offered shade to the benches beneath and a bit of green to an otherwise gray horizon.

I asked the lads at work if the trees were sick and was told that no, they were being felled simply because their root system was threatening the structure of the quay wall; the trees were fine, just badly placed.

Still, look below at the two pictures and tell me which you’d rather see. I’m sure the reasons for the trees’ removal are sound, but I can’t help but recall being told that Athlone town council almost demolished Athlone castle back in the 1980s to replace it with a car park. Apparently, the motion was defeated by ONE VOTE.

I know that a tree is not the same thing as a medieval castle, but still . . . I hate to see them go.