[Kitty]

afraid its a catch 22 with beech trees. It is infinitely cheaper to fell a tree than trim it, and in this case the owner obviously had to make a major financial decision and had to give way to what he could afford. Beech trees, i am afraid, are the devil for suddenly dropping huge limbs for no apparent reason whatsoever. To be sure they are felled in this country when about 150-200 years old if they are by a major path or road.
It is just sad that in this case all of the carvings were lost at the same time. They could have been pollarded, but then again this would have been more expensive than the original surgery.