The Dark Hedges, the famous trees outside Armoy in County Antrim, are “coming to the end of their natural lives”, a heritage trust has said as it prepares to take over their management.

Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage Trust (CCGHT) is taking over management responsibility from the Dark Hedges Preservation Trust oversight group.

The tunnel of beech trees shot to international fame when they appeared in the US TV drama Game of Thrones.

The beech trees – which were planted almost 250 years ago – suffered damage in both Storm Isha and Storm Éowyn which, along with some necessary safety maintenance, resulted in 13 of them being lost since November 2023.

Graham Thompson, CCGHT chief executive said that in environments such as Italy and the south of France, common beech trees lived for about 250 years.

“In these northern climes they’re lucky to live more than 150, maybe 200 years,” Mr Thompson said.

“The ones at the Dark Hedges are almost 250 years old, so they are sadly dying.

“But what we want to do now is for the future, see how long we can preserve the longevity of those trees and maintain the experience for people visiting here.”

Almost 80 trees remain at the site.

Mr Thompson said a management plan would be put in place for the trees – checking each one of them every year as well as after any storm or other incidents.

“We’ve had three big storms in the last while, two of those storms caused damage to the trees, we’ve had to take away trees for safety reasons as well,” he said.

He said they would also plant new trees.

“Nothing will replace what is lost, but part of the process is to be a sound custodian and a sound environmental manager ensuring that we have something else there in place,” Mr Thompson said.

Mr Thompson said “12 seconds on Game of Thrones” had turned the site into a huge tourist attraction.

He said the influx of visitors had taken its toll on the trees, primarily because of cars travelling on the road they are planted on.

“We want to work with the Roads Service to make sure the traffic restrictions are enhanced and enforced, we want to work with tourism bodies to try and have an appropriate form of promotion,” Mr Thompson said.

“Let’s all work together to make sure that this very special place stays that way as long as we possibly can.”