It took six men, two diggers, a few chainsaws and over 12 hours of work to get a 200-year-old tree removed from the Fletcherstown cemetery in Co Meath. A “giant” tree at the gates of the graveyard, which had seen its fair share of gusts and winds over the past two centuries, finally succumbed to the power of ex-hurricane Ophelia this week.

The hardwood fell at approximately 1pm on Monday. It came crashing through the wall and gates of the cemetery.

Volunteers toiled between 3pm and 7.30pm on Monday and again between 8am and 4pm on Tuesday to clear it up.

“It was a big enough job alright,” one of the volunteers, James Smith, told the Farmers Journal. “It’s a sad enough time for the locals alright. It was a giant thing that sheltered people from the rain and wind at funerals and the like. It will be sadly missed.”