A tree which began life before Queen Victoria was born has had to be cut down.

The copper beech, a landmark of Swindon's Bath Road, was in danger of toppling after being attacked by fungus.

And what took nature most of two centuries to create took humans half a day and a 48-inch Stihl chainsaw to remove from the grounds of the museum and art gallery.

When the tree first sprouted, Swindon was part of Regency England, and consisted of a cluster of houses on and around what is now Victoria Hill.

The railways which were to turn the town into an industrial powerhouse by the mid-19th century were yet to be even thought of.

A four-man team led by tree surgeon Nigel Freshwater and supervised by George Walker, senior contracts manager with Swindon contractors, carried out yesterday's felling.

Mr Walker said: "It was just a matter of stripping it and taking the branches off.

"When we got to the stage where we could bring the trunk down safely, we felled it.

"We have just counted the rings and there are 185.

"It had to go because it has a fungus which attacks the root system.

"The roots are dead, so the tree could have fallen over at any time and a tree that size weighs about ten tons.

"This isn't the sort of road junction where you would want something like this to happen!"

Before the rings were counted each ring represents a year, although in harsh weather no ring is added it was thought that the tree was planted in about 1840.

At around that time, a magnificent residence was built nearby for the wealthy Toomer family, who lived there until the 1920s.

They then sold the property, and it was converted for its present use.

The tree has featured in every photograph taken of the site.

Another copper beech stands a few yards away, and Mr Walker said it seemed to have escaped the fungus.

He also revealed that the felled tree will not disappear entirely.

He explained: "We will be cutting a slice of the trunk and making a time ring for the museum, showing the periods of history the tree lived through."

It is also planned to use as much as possible of the undamaged part of the trunk to create another permanent reminder for display.