One of the five London Plane trees in Devizes Market Place bit the dust on Sunday after it was declared unsafe because it had rotted through.

Contractors cut down the 130-year-old tree, one of eight that were originally planted to ring the Market Cross and the fountain.

The tree, between the Market Cross and Lloyds Bank, was declared unsafe after years of low-speed collisions opened wounds in the trunk which became infected with fungus.

Kennet District Council officers fenced it off when high winds were forecast so branches didn't fall on passers by.

Will Harley, Kennet's landscape and countryside officer, said: "People can now see how rotten it was and that it really had reached the end of its life."

The remaining eighteen-inch stump will be ground out 'sooner rather than later'. The other four trees have a year to go before they too are taken down.

Four replacement London Planes are to be planted around the fountain, and will be allowed to grow to 15 metres (45 feet) high.