On 18 Mar, 11:44, "Bob Hobden" wrote:
The builders had dug around the base, exposed the roots,
had chopped most through, and were busy using ropes to try to pull the tree
over by waggling it back and forth. Few branches had been removed

That's pretty much how I take down trees. We had a local man fell two
of ours while I was too busy with work, and the resultant great lump
in the ground makes that spot useless.

My Grandad used to do this too, so it's not a new idea. I helped him
take down a flowering cherry that was too near his house in 1962, and
that is exactly the way we did it.