A historic bench has been replaced in South Walsham after being removed four years ago.

The hexagonal seat encircling a 400-year-old oak tree was taken away by the parish council over safety concerns, as the expanding tree trunk had made it unstable.

Believed to date back to the end of the First World War, the bench had been a familiar feature on the village green in The Street, opposite the Ranworth Road junction, for generations. 

David Dewing, whose family had moved to Old Hall Farm in South Walsham six years earlier, restored the bench as a youth back in 1979. 

Mr Dewing remembers acquiring green oak from Cordy's wood yard in Lingwood and using equipment at Martin Broom’s boatbuilding firm in Brundall, where he worked, to refurbish the slats.

He installed the replacement bench in mid-October, assisted by parish councillors.

When the parish council decided to replace the seat the Dewing family provided funds in memory of the late Richard Dewing, who died aged 89 in 2020.

Andrew and David Dewing Andrew and David Dewing (Image: Submitted)

Richard was a farmer, a prominent community member and a lay minister, often seen sitting on the bench with his bicycle.

The new bench, designed by the parish council, is considerably larger than the previous one to accommodate at least another 75 years of growth by the oak tree which measures six metres around.

It required 39 metres of oak slats and 96 stainless steel coach bolts in its construction. Matt Jordon, an arborist at South Walsham's Fairhaven Gardens, sourced the wood from the Sandringham Estate. 

The roots of the tree had to be probed to ensure the bench's legs were positioned without causing any damage.