Residents watched in horror as contractors started pulling down the 100-year-old trees at historic Padnell Grange, Cowplain.

Dental charity Borrow Foundation, which is selling the land to make way for a 126-home estate, said it was thinning the trees.

But the police were called and put a stop to the work.

Havant Borough Council then issued a Tree Preservation Order on the area to stop any more trees being chopped down.

Jonathan Mercer, 42, who lives in Cherry Tree Avenue, close to Padnell Grange, said: 'This is an abuse of the environment and a tragic loss of these trees.

'Part of the ecosystem of that area has now gone.

'These trees are so old that we will never see their like again in our lifetime.

'Our concern is the wildlife and how it will be affected.

'This is a valuable community amenity and, although the trees were on private land, people were able to enjoy them from the footpath and we have seen lots of bats there.'

Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it is a crime to destroy a bat's roost.

Police have confirmed no bats were harmed but have contacted Natural England which will carry out a survey of wildlife in the area.

The Borrow Foundation has not broken any laws as at the time there was no TPO.

Cowplain councillor David Keast said he was sad to see the trees go.

'They were mature oak trees, more than 100 years old and it is a real shame they have been chopped down,' he said.

'But I feel reassured that the council acted so quickly to protect the remaining trees.'

Padnell Grange dates from the 1840s and, although it is an attractive manor house, it is not a listed building.

Nigel Borrow, a director of the Borrow Foundation, is out of the country.

But Rob McKay, from developer Berkeley Street Properties, which is set to buy the site, said one of the problems was that the empty house had been vandalised recently.

Cutting down the trees, he believed, was meant to make the site more open and improve security.