by Chris Graham, The Telegraph, October 11, 2017
A section of road in Northern Ireland is to be closed to traffic in order to protect trees made famous by Game of Thrones.
Bregagh Road, near Armoy, become an international tourist attraction after a tunnel of trees that lines part of the route appeared briefly in the hit HBO series.
Known as the Dark Hedges, the trees represented “the Kingsroad” in the closing scene of an episode.
One of the show's main characters, Arya Stark, was filmed travelling on a cart along the road, disguised as a boy.
TV fans flocked to the site in such numbers that conservationists expressed fears about possible damage to the trees’ roots.
“I was being a tourist at the Dark Hedges during the summer & couldn't get over the number of cars. The area definitely needs protected,” journalist Sara Moore tweeted. NI Greenways, a cycling blog, said a “national disgrace (was) slowly killing a national treasure”.
About 150 of the trees were planted more than 200 years ago, but now fewer than two thirds remain standing, according to the BBC.
The Department for Infrastructure said the ban would come into force on October 30 and the only exceptions would be for certain agricultural and emergency vehicles such as agricultural and emergency vehicles.
This article was written by Chris Graham from The Telegraph and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.
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