Plans for the £100 million A130 bypass at Rettendon have been altered - to spare a 500-year-old oak tree that stood in its way.

The English oak, which stands on top of Curry Hill, near Gorse Wood, had been earmarked for felling by road builders Laing because it was too close to the road.

Now East Hanningfield resident Penny Waters has persuaded Laing to spend thousands of pounds realigning an embankment near Hoe Lane.

Penny estimates from the tree's 26ft girth that it could have started life as an insignificant acorn seedling about the time Henry VIII was born.

"I have been very concerned about the future of the oak since the eco-protesters began their siege," she said.

"When they were evicted, I checked out its age using a tried and tested formula. I have worked out that it must date from at least 1538.

"I then wrote to Laing to save me a trunk section when they chopped it down so that I could measure its rings and achieve a more accurate date."

But Laing structures manager Jim Farquharson, who lives in Essex, decided to spare the oak by softening the proposed 1/2 gradient of the embankment.

"It is a lovely old oak tree and it would have been a terrible shame to have lost it," he said.

"We have always tried to save as much of the woodland along the route as possible."

The tree has been nicknamed Penny's Oak by Friends of the Earth activist Paula Whitney, who said that it would be highly visible to passing motorists on the new route as a symbol of "paradise lost".

Ms Whitney said: "Well done to Penny for saving the oak, which was one of the trees which the eco-protesters defended and chained themselves against during their valiant siege."

Ms Waters said: "Although I am grateful that Laing have saved the oak, I am heartbroken that so many lovely trees have been destroyed to make way for this monstrous six-lane motorway."

Penny Waters and Jim Farquharson at the foot of the mighty oak.

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