In article , Chris French and Helen
Johnson writes
The general advice you've got so far here and if you read it in books is
that Beeches are pretty resilient to hard cutting back, however it isn't
always so.....

With that advice plus books under our belt we went ahead and cut the
hedge back very hard on the sides, as well as cutting back the top.

Sadly, it never recovered on our side, there was a very little
sprouting, but mostly they remained resolutely bare, after say 3 growing
seasons of this we decided that we would go for more drastic action and
cut the stems down as well, hoping for regrowth, while there was some
from maybe 30-40% of the stumps, most did not. and of course beech does
not grow that fast anyway.

You seem to have been very unlucky. I've dug out a beech at the corner
of the house. I removed the entire stump, but could not reach one or two
roots which had gone under the patio. Even though it was autumn, they
sprouted new leaves, and looked to be flourishing. I'm just going to
have to try glyphosate on them in then spring.

John
--
John Rouse