Sycamore gap tree latest: Man in his sixties arrested in connection with felling of tree after teen released on bail

Former Tory MP Rory Stewart has joined those paying tribute to the sycamore tree, saying it is the closest “our culture got to a sacred tree.”

“Venerated, visited, endlessly represented – anachronistic in age weaving Robin Hood and St Oswald and the frontier forts and tribes of the Roman wall – and now felled like the druids’ groves,” he wrote.

Mr Stewart served as the MP for Penrith and the Border, Cumbria, until 2019. He also worked as a minister in four government departments.

A woman has written a poem paying tribute to the Sycamore Gap tree, describing it as a “sentinel of time”.

Laura Charlton, says she wrote the poem to try to capture the “recklessness of the actions and the sense of bereavement the locals are feeling.”

The birds sing their morning song

Wind dances through the leaves

Almost just as it once was

Yet Northumberland is bereaved.

Deprived violently by force

From the ancient wall where she stood

A stoic soldier of the seasons

Centuries etched in sycamore wood.

Yet after enduring the brutal elements

Northumberland’s sentinel of time

Reaved from her birthplace forever

An act of senseless, human crime.

So after centuries spent protecting

Northumberland from the wall

A national treasure, forever lost

A crime with no justice at all.

So let the birds sing their morning song,

Let the wind dance through what’s left

Never again as it once was

Northumberland is bereft.

A tourist attraction, a film location and a symbol of hope – the felled Sycamore Gap tree was many things to many people.

The 300 year-old natural beauty was one of the most photographed trees in the country and an iconic sight next to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland. However, this week it was felled prompting an outpouring of anger and sorrow, from campaigners and the public alike.

Striking a note of optimism after the iconic Sycamore Gap tree was felled, experts have suggested it could be saved.

In an incident that caused widespread outrage and upset, the world-famous tree, next to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, was chopped down overnight on Wednesday.

However, all hope is not lost, according to Andrew Poad of the National Trust, who pointed to the health of the ancient Sycamore Gap, which is thought to be around 300 years old, as giving reason to believe the tree could regrow.

“Minutes to cut down and centuries to grow back, if it ever does,” is the devastating verdict of experts on the iconic Sycamore Gap tree after it was felled.

With police believing it to be a deliberate act of vandalism, the chainsaw-cutting down of the world-famous tree next to Hadrian’s Wall, in Northumberland, has triggered widespread outrage and sorrow.

Broadcaster Alastair Campbell has become as well known for his daily picture posts of trees as he is for his political punditry. Here, he reflects on why the Hadrian’s Wall sycamore matters and some of his recent favourite tree ‘spots’.

Read Alastair’s full piece below:

In her latest exclusive poem, Frieda Hughes mourns the late, great tree at Hadrian’s Wall – and also muses on what it feels like to be a ‘fugitive’ in London, late at night…

Read in the poem in full here:

A local with a grudge against the National Trust may be responsible for felling the Sycamore Gap tree, locals believe.

“I heard it was a tenant farmer evicted from his land,” one drinker at the nearby Twice Brewed Inn tells, told The Daily Telegraph.  “He threatened he would cut down the tree.”

The paper said another rumour circulating locally was that a National Trust worker who had been sacked in the morning stole a chainsaw and felling gear in retaliation.

The National Trust denied the claim.

Two world wars, multiple monarchs, disasters and jubilation: Sean O’Grady reflects on the rich history of the tree at Hadrian’s Wall – and explains why we shouldn’t flinch from mourning its felling

“I’m not quite sure why trees can have such a powerful hold on us, but it’s a remarkable, almost spiritual phenomenon. We sense they are living things – often venerable, always graceful, occasionally of stunning beauty.”

Read Sean’s piece in full below:

Residents across the UK have been expressing their anger at the felling of the Sycamore Gap Tree in Northumberland.

Stephen Gallen, from Castlederg in Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland, said it was “horrifying that someone could destroy something as beautiful as the tree on Hadrian’s wall”.

He also shared a picture of a stunning sycamore tree in his hometown (below):