Never was there a tree more Instagram friendly, standing as it did along Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland.
Sycamore Gap was a giant of the North-East, a favourite spot for photographs, marriage proposals and the like.
Made famous in 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, the 150-year-old tree became something of a national treasure.
That was until vandals struck in September 2023, savagely cutting the icon down with a chainsaw at night.
The felling provoked an outpouring of national fury, with the director of Robin Hood going as far as likening its loss to the death of screen legend Alan Rickman, who had played villain the Sheriff of Nottingham in his production.
Today, former friends Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers, both from Cumbria, were found guilty of what was described to jurors as an act of ‘mindless thuggery’.
Sycamore Gap was planted in the late 1800s by landowner John Clayton, who is also credited with having ‘saved’ Hadrian’s Wall by buying up land along its route to protect it from development.
According to the National Trust, which now looks after the site with the Northumberland National Park Authority, Clayton wanted the tree to be a ‘feature in the landscape’.
The sycamore had stood for at least 100 years before it was felled in 2023 in an act which stunned the nation
Vandals struck in September 2023, savagely cutting the icon down with a chainsaw at night
But until it appeared in Robin Hood, Sycamore Gap did not have a major national profile and was largely only known to locals.
A scene featuring Kevin Costner’s hero pulling leaves from the tree as he walked under it with warrior Azeem – who was portrayed by Morgan Freeman – in the 1991 film suddenly put it on the map.
The tree also featured in the music video for American star Bryan Adams’ hit (Everything I Do) I Do It for You, which was the soundtrack for Costner’s Robin Hood film.
In 2003, Sycamore Gap escaped damage when a helicopter that was filming documentary series British Isles – A Natural History crashed less than 100 feet away.
The four onboard the aircraft were injured, but much-loved presenter Alan Titchmarsh, who was standing on the ground, narrowly escaped harm.
Titchmarsh said at the time: ‘I was pretty shaken and I was worried the copter was going to explode. The crew scrambled out and ran like hell.’
An eyewitness added: ‘Alan Titchmarsh was very lucky not to be hit.
‘He was almost underneath the helicopter when it fell but jumped out of the way as it came down.
Sycamore Gap is pictured here in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves with Kevin Costner
Kevin Costner seen as Robin Hood standing on Hadrian’s Wall in front of Sycamore Gap in the 1991 film
A scene featuring Kevin Costner’s hero pulling leaves from the tree as he walked under it with warrior Azeem – who was portrayed by Morgan Freeman – in the 1991 film suddenly put it on the map
Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman as the leads in 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
In 2003, Sycamore Gap escaped damage when a helicopter that was filming documentary series British Isles – A Natural History crashed less than 100 feet away. The four onboard the aircraft were injured, but presenter Alan Titchmarsh, who was standing on the ground, narrowly escaped harm
During the filming for a docuseries called British Isles – A Natural History, a helicopter crashed. The four onboard the aircraft were injured, but presenter Titchmarsh, who was standing on the ground, narrowly escaped harm
‘The aircraft landed on its side and everyone, including Alan, ran to help. Everyone was amazed the crew were not seriously hurt.’
In 2016, Sycamore Gap was voted English Tree of the Year in awards run by the Woodland Trust.
By then, its popularity had been turbocharged by social media.
On the morning of September 28, 2023, its world came crashing down, literally.
Police launched a high-profile investigation, with forensics officers even sent to take samples from the stump.
One officer noted at the time: ‘In 31 years of forensics I’ve never examined a tree’.
Filmmaker Kevin Reynolds, the director of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, echoed widespread fury when he said the tree had been ‘murdered’.
He went as far as likening it to the death of Alan Rickman in 2016.
‘This is the second loss Prince of Thieves has suffered in the last couple of years – Alan Rickman and now this,’ he said.
He added: ‘I know some people will say you can’t compare the death of a tree to the death of a person but I think some things are so iconic, so perfect in their being, that they have a profound effect on people as this does
‘So I think that this comparison is justified and I know Alan would agree with it.’
One ray of light is that experts were able to rescue seeds from the tree and plant them, whilst its original stump is still alive.
It will though take decades to grow back.
Culprits Graham and Carruthers were arrested in October 2023 in connection with the felling of the tree and were charged at the end of April last year.
Footage showing the moment the icon was cut down was found on their phones, having been sent to Carruthers’ phone by Graham.
During their trial, prosecutor Richard Wright KC said: ‘Over many years the tree, and its situation, became a famous site, reproduced countless times in photographs, feature films and art.’
Groundworker Daniel Graham (left), 39, and mechanic Adam Carruthers (right), 32, each denied two counts of criminal damage in relation to the tree and Hadrian’s Wall
Grabs from an enhanced version of mobile phone footage showing the Sycamore Gap being felled in September 2023, which has been shown at Newcastle Crown Court
Graham and Carruthers, seen here in a court sketch, were arrested in connection with the felling of the tree in October 2023
Police vehicles near the location of the tree next to Hadrian’s Wall the day after it was cut down
A photograph that was shown to the jury during the trial, showing a collection of chainsaws
Daniel Graham, left, and Adam Carruthers, right, face up to ten years in prison for felling the Sycamore Gap tree
Graham, pictured, tried to justify turning on his friend
Tony Wilmott, a senior archaeologist with Historic England, said the Sycamore Gap name was coined in the 1980s and over the decades it had become one of Northumberland’s most appreciated features.
He said: ‘Its unmistakable profile has been repeated in many media and because of this it has become totemic.
‘It has become a place of marriage proposals, family visits and even the location of ashes to be spread.
‘The place is much loved by many thousands of people.’
The cost of the damage to the tree was assessed as being £622,191 by using the Capital Asset Value for Amenity Trees tool.
It is more usually employed by local authorities to work out the level of compensation needed to replace a tree.
At a magistrates’ court hearing in May 2024, prosecutor Rebecca Brown explained that factors in the calculation involved the size of the tree, its type and the number of people who had access to it.
Ms Brown said the loss of the tree had caused “serious distress”, as well as economic and social damage.
The tree became a national icon because of its picturesque surroundings
Walkers stop to look at the tree next to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland after it has been cut down
The Sycamore Gap tree fell onto Hadrian’s Wall when it was cut down
But though the landmark view of the tree framed against the sky in the dip is gone, there are ways in which the sycamore is living on.
The National Trust, which cares for the land the tree stood in, grew seedlings from it and 49 of them – one for each foot of the sycamore’s height – will be given away in the Tree of Hope project, with planting expected to go ahead this autumn and winter.
Recipients include The Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease at Seacroft Hospital in Leeds, Holly’s Hope in memory of murdered Northumberland schoolgirl Holly Newton, and The Tree Sanctuary and Tree Amigos in Coventry.
Henshaw Church of England Primary School, the closest school to the Sycamore Gap Tree, will also receive a sapling, and so will all 15 UK national parks.
The first seedling grown from the tree – glimpsed by the public when Dame Judi Dench placed it in the National Trust’s Octavia Hill garden at last year’s Chelsea Flower Show – was presented to the King to be planted in Windsor Great Park where visitors can enjoy it.
And the stump itself is showing new signs of life, with more than a dozen shoots appearing last year at its base, which has been fenced off to protect it from grazing.
Sycamores, like many trees, can be coppiced – sprouting again with many stems after the main trunk is cut off.
So while the tree will not look the same, it is expected to regrow and the National Trust will decide at a later date how to manage it for the future.
