A MANAGER at a building firm has come up with the explanation of why a tree in a Taunton park has several bricks embedded in its trunk.
Paul Williams solved the mystery of the unusual sight in the town's Goodland Gardens after Somerset Camera Club member Jon Bloor sent in a photo of it.
Mr Williams, of Kingston Road, Taunton, worked for builders C. S. Williams Ltd when the firm carried out the landscaping of the gardens in about 1971 for Taunton Borough Council.
He said: "I managed this work.
"The area outside what is now the Scout centre had been a yard for the builders merchants William Thomas. It was separated from the gardens by a brick wall.
"The wall was scheduled to be removed as part of the landscaping, but in one place a tree had grown and was supported by the wall.
"Accordingly the tree was scheduled to be removed as well.
"I thought it a shame to lose a perfectly good tree, and suggested that if a section of the brick wall was left in place, the tree could remain and this was agreed."
Mr Williams, who proudly comments to family members as they pass through the gardens on his role in the bricks-in-the-tree mystery, added: "In the intervening years the tree has continued to develop and the remains of the wall gradually disappeared.
"Now all there is to show for this process is a pleasant tree containing a few bricks.
"We also built the toilet block next to Debenhams, now a café, and while excavating for that uncovered the mill stone which now is mounted on the wall of the water garden."
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