why we mind the gap

Although the sycamore gap tree is now just a stump its reputation continues to grow

The Sycamore Gap tree at night (image by Mark McNeill)

It’s been a week since the illegal felling of the famous Sycamore on Hadrian’s Wall near Hexham but we’re still in shock. Coming just twenty four hours after the State of Nature report on the UK’s appalling loss of biodiversity the timing is surreal. Photographer Kris Hodgetts noted, ‘‘We haven’t just lost another tree but a symbol of something natural in its perfect form which can’t be replaced by a statue or a memorial.’

 The act was selfish, stupid, pointless but not random

Thousands of people have shared photos, memories, and stories about what this tree meant to them. So, the sycamore’s profile is growing every day although the tree itself has been reduced to a stump. Rumours swirl about who might be responsible – a sixteen year old boy and a man in his sixties have both been arrested then released.  The act was selfish, stupid, pointless but not random. No-one attacks a tree described the as, ‘The most photographed spot in the whole of the Northumberland National Park’ with a chainsaw, at night, in the middle of a thunderstorm by accident.

 Who wants some NT sanctioned memorial bench that will be covered in graffiti in a matter of weeks?

Two days after the vandals struck, a local man planted a sycamore sapling close to the site. He bought it from a garden centre, lugged it up there and planted it carefully, surrounding the young trunk with wire to protect it from the attentions of the local sheep. He explained he did it ‘as a symbol of hope’. By Sunday night the National Trust had dug it up again and issued a stern statement reminding him and the rest of us, that ‘it is important for everyone to remember the site is a national monument and adding to it can damage the archaeology.’ Well, yes but get over yourselves. They have solemnly assured the grieving public that they will deliberate and come up with a suitable memorial to commemorate the tree. Please, who wants some NT sanctioned memorial bench that will be covered in graffiti in a matter of weeks?

There have been other suggestions, including a line of sycamores the length of Hadrian’s wall, and some cheery assurances online from tree specialists that shoots will regrow from the stump, with the caveat that it will take several hundred years to recreate the size and shape of the tree that was felled.

It’s hard not to see the loss of such an iconic tree, standing alone in a treeless landscape as representative of deforestation, biodiversity loss and the whole sad catalogue of plants, animals, birds and insects that are endangered or extinct. But that’s because the tree and its setting were so photogenic.

 The Sycamore gap tree was iconic because its image was so familiar

This tree owed a large part of its fame to a starring role in the 1991 film, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, despite there being no evidence whatsoever for the visit of Robin Hood to Northumberland assuming he did actually exist. Like the Glenfinnan viaduct now synonymous with Harry Potter, the Sycamore gap tree was iconic because its image was so familiar.

 So many ordinary trees, nondescript rivers and unspectacular peatbogs with no Instagram following are lost every day without a tear being shed

I mean no disrespect to the memories of those people who celebrated family birthdays, made proposals, picnicked, or sought shade under the branches of this tree. I’m just struck that so many ordinary trees, nondescript rivers and unspectacular peatbogs with no Instagram following are lost every day without a tear being shed. Most sycamores are not photogenic. They are ordinary, pollution tolerant familiar street trees that we pass every day without noticing them. They have a lifespan of up to four hundred years, so at three hundred plus years old the Sycamore Gap tree was getting on a bit. Rather than a brass plaque or a memorial bench, we need to plant more trees, all sorts of trees, all over the place so that more people can get to know them directly. This is the best revenge.