‘Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, I was all too aware of the spread of Dutch Elm disease. The only Elms, I ever remembered seeing were dead ones. Their demise had a powerful effect on me. The trees pictured, were just over the road from my home and I saw them every day.

 John Clare’s words carved around the plinth, come from his poem To A Fallen Elm, written when two Elms by his home were felled by the landowner.’

 Text reads: ‘Old Elm that murmured in our chimney top, the sweetest anthem to Autumn ever made.’

 Traditionally, Elm was used for many purposes, including furniture, wheel hubs, coffins, planks, boats, water pipes, hockey sticks, boxes and baskets.

 Elm mounted on Purbeck Thornback stone, with relief carved lettering, mounted on an elm board.