VILLAGERS are claiming divine intervention after a 300-year-old oak tree crashed to the ground without damaging the church, a neighbouring listed building or any passers-by.

And the good fortune is two-fold as the church no longer faces the financial headache of paying for the diseased tree to be felled.

The giant Italian oak in the grounds of All Saints’ Church, Eastchurch, tumbled on Monday. It is thought the effects of a poisonous fungus combined with the warm weather had so weakened the tree that either a strong breeze or a lightning strike caused it to fall.

Chris Easterbrook and her husband John were taking tea in their Georgian cottage next to the church. For years they have worried that the tree might destroy their home.

She said: “We heard an almighty crash and the whole house shuddered.”

Miraculously, the tree fell in the only safe direction it could -- perfectly into a narrow gap between the church and the cottage.

If it had crushed the church or the cottage, people inside could have been badly hurt. If it had fallen over Warden Road, passing traffic or pedestrians could have been hit.

As it was, there was only minor damage to some tombstones and graves, including that of former vicar Father Len Mepsted.

Mrs Easterbrook said: “You couldn’t really have laid it down any better.”

The incident is all the more remarkable because the wind does not normally blow from the South East.

If it had happened two days earlier, the churchyard would have been packed with flower festival visitors. There could also have been people visiting graves or children looking for conkers.

A tree surgeon ruled two months ago that the oak needed to be felled. The parochial council had been scratching its head as to how to afford the work, which could have cost thousands of pounds.

Churchwarden Alan Webb said: “It could be divine intervention. It couldn’t have fallen in a better direction or at a better time.”