Ancient tree – believed to be Europe's oldest elm – falls down in Beauly Priory

An ancient tree in Beauly – believed to be the oldest elm in Europe – has fallen down.

The Beauly elm, an ancient wych (Scots) elm at the entrance to the ruins of Beauly Priory, was more than 800 years old.

But in recent years has been ravaged by Dutch elm disease.

As the last survivor of an avenue of elms, it had less than five per cent living material but remained an iconic sculptural element.

This morning, it fell over and knocking over some grave stones and damaging a fence.

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The site is owned by Historic Environment Scotland which laser-scanned the tree two years ago in a ground-breaking venture.

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