#sycamore gap tree

"Senseless Acts"

The Sycamore Gap Tree (Robin Hood Tree) which has stood for over 200 years next to Hadrian's Wall near Crag Lough in Northumberland, England was felled in an act of vandalism early this morning.

BBC News - Sycamore Gap tree: Proposals, photographs and the big screen

The UK is shocked & horrified, outraged & saddened, by this senseless act of destruction. Our hearts go out to the people of the North East. It truly feels like murder, as mentioned in one of the two examples of the comments by folk, which I've screenshot from the article above. The person who cut this iconic tree down has cut through the hearts of the nations of the UK, and the wider world 😨😡😔😢😢😢

some old guy: i hate this tree

Some old guy: *goes through a elaborate scheme to get rid of the tree*

200 years later:

Tree: i'm baaaaack! With company!

At over 150+ years old the tree was a much-loved landmark before it was illegally felled in September 2023, See what the display looks like, an insight into how it was created.

The tree was a single sycamore tree growing in a natural dip in the countryside along Hadrian's Wall, close to the village of Once Brewed

Bonus Info:

The tree in films

While a popular spot for walkers and photographers due to its unusual setting, it became famous after featuring in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves starring Kevin Costner. Afterwards, it gained the nickname the Robin Hood Tree - although in reality it was some 170 miles (273 km) from Sherwood Forest.

Kevin Costner, Morgan Freeman and Dan Newman who starred in 1991's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Dan Newman, whose character Wulf hides in the tree and is rescued by the eponymous hero, said it was the first scene he filmed on his very first day on set.

(Artist Charlie Winney has used the Sycamore Gap trunk as a centrepiece for his sculpture)

Charlie said: "The actual design came from what people said," Charlie says. "They wanted to be able to sit down, so we made some benches, and also pretty much 100% of the people we spoke to said they want to be able to access the tree and touch it."

A public consultation was held to work out what to do with the tree, which included workshops with children and any written contributions people wanted to make.

The much-loved tree had been a part of so many memorable moments for so many people, from marriage proposals to the scattering of ashes.

(A piece of the world-famous Sycamore Gap tree which was illegally felled nearly two years ago is to go on permanent display.)

The piece of tree, which is more than 6ft (2m) long, arrived at Charlie's workshop in mid-June, three weeks before its unveiling as part of a permanent exhibition at the Sill National Landscape Discovery Centre near Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland.

The act sparked global condemnation and outrage in September 2023, with two men found guilty of chopping the tree down earlier this year.

In a workshop in a tiny village in Cumbria, an idea has been taking shape.

The large shed up an ever-thinning track is where artist Charlie Whinney creates his abstract and beautiful sculptures.

The wood cuts smoothly and is "really nice to work with", the artist says, as he attaches a three-pronged metal baseplate that will finally hold the trunk vertical once again. He is not an emotional person but is "blown away by how huggable it is", he says, before inviting me to try and wrap my arms around the trunk - which, of course, I do.

This is what everyone who visits the installation will able to do too.

Just some of the words to be inscribed on the sculpture's benches and frames.

Three benches with canopies formed from curved wooden stems and leaves now surround the trunk, the seats inscribed with words taken from people's submissions.

Now, people will be able to see and touch part of its trunk at a Northumberland visitor centre near where the tree stood, as a permanent memorial to its mindless destruction is unveiled.

(Rosie Thomas helped choose the words to be inscribed on the sculpture's benches)

Rosie Thomas, the park's business development director, helped pick out some of the messages that feature in the installation.

"The words that were chosen take you from sorrow, grief, the initial reaction, all the way through to feelings of hope and wishes for the future," she says.

"The really nice thing about the words is that everyone's experience of the tree was different and everybody's experience with this installation will be different too because the route that you take to read the words creates your own individual poem."

(Tony Gates is delighted to have the trunk back near Hadrian's Wall)

The trunk and benches were hidden behind curtains while they were being installed at The Sill, which is just two miles from where the tree had stood.

Who are the Bastards who did it and what happened to them?

On the morning of 28 September 2023, news spread that the tree had been chopped down overnight. A police investigation was launched and forensics officers were sent to take measurements and samples from the remains.

One was heard saying: "In 31 years of forensics I've never examined a tree."

Two people were originally arrested before being released without charge, with one telling the BBC accusations had been "heartbreaking".

On 30 April 2024, Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers from Cumbria were charged with criminal damage of the tree and criminal damage to Hadrian's Wall and sentenced to 4 years in prison.

The Hanging Tree

https://thesleaze.co.uk/the-hanging-tree-1545.html