The stunning Sycamore Gap, on the Hadrian’s Wall Path, in Northumberland, UK, in 2021. (Photo: chrisdorney/Depositphotos)
There can be regrowth even after the toughest of blows, as we’ve learned from England’s beloved Sycamore Gap tree. Now, three years after the tree was chopped down in an act of vandalism, it is continuing its slow but hopeful process of growing back.
For nearly 200 years, the tree stood in a dramatic dip between two hills along Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, England, making it an especially popular spot for photographs. But on the morning of September 28, 2023, a local farmer discovered that it had been cut down with a chainsaw, with its crown falling across part of the ancient wall.
The two men responsible, Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers, were later found guilty of two counts of criminal damage and sentenced to four years and three months in prison, though neither admitted to cutting down the tree. Earlier this year, Carruthers was released from prison to serve the remainder of his sentence at home under strict conditions.
The crime rocked the local community of Northumberland, as well as England on a larger scale, because of just how beloved the tree had become. It appeared in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and was even named English Tree of the Year by the Woodland Trust in 2016. Archaeologists later discovered that the falling tree had also damaged part of Hadrian’s Wall, the 73-mile fortification built by the Roman army beginning around 122 CE.
But the great news is that the tree is refusing to disappear completely. For the third year in a row, new shoots have grown from around the base of the stump, and this year they have formed a thick ring reaching between 2 and 3 feet tall. A small fence now surrounds the area to protect the roots and give the tree the best possible chance of survival.
“These flourishing shoots are really encouraging and show that the special measures we’ve taken—including reducing soil compaction around the roots and limiting human disturbance—are paying off,” says Andrew Poad, general manager for the National Trust at Hadrian’s Wall.
For now, the National Trust plans to let the shoots to continue to grow and see what nature decides to do with them. Eventually, rangers may allow several of the shoots to develop or choose one to become a new tree. Either way, the new growth has given people hope that one day there could once again be a tree standing in the famous gap.
And the stump isn’t the only way the Sycamore Gap tree is getting a second life. The National Trust has also grown 49 “Trees of Hope” from the original tree—one for every foot of its height—which have been planted in communities around the United Kingdom. So while the tree that once stood along Hadrian’s Wall can’t simply be replaced, pieces of its legacy are continuing to grow in more ways than one.
The iconic Sycamore Gap tree in Northumberland, UK, was unexpectedly and illegally cut down by chainsaw in 2023.
Its stump has since been kept inside a wooden fence for protection and with the hopes of regrowth.
Sycamore Gap on Hadrian’s Wall showing the aftermath of the tree felling, Northumberland, UK, in 2025. (Photo: ianthraves/Depositphotos)
Now, three years later, the Sycamore Gap tree is showing very promising signs of regrowth.
The tree will continue to be kept inside a wooden fence to give it the best chance at survival as it continues to grow back.
Sycamore Gap on Hadrian’s Wall showing the aftermath of the tree felling and the fact the tree stump is starting to show new growth, Northumberland, UK. (Photo: ianthraves/Depositphotos)
Source: England’s Beloved Sycamore Gap Tree Is Showing Signs of Life, Three Years After Vandals Chopped It Down
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