Squiz Shortcuts - The Sycamore Gap tree

Your Shortcut to… The Sycamore Gap tree

There’s been widespread grief and anger across Britain in response to the illegal felling of an old Sycamore tree that grew between 2 hills beside Hadrian’s Wall. It was one of the most photographed trees in the world before it was cut down and it was special to many people for both personal and historical reasons. The 2 perpetrators of the crime have been found and they’ve now been jailed for the crime. So in this Squiz Shortcut, we’ll get you across:

• the tree’s history

• what it symbolised for many

• and why its demise provoked such an emotional response…

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Squiz the Shortcut

This is a bit out of left field…
It is, but we’ve been watching this story bubble along for a while now, and the tree, known as the Sycamore Gap tree, was a very old one that meant a lot to the people of Britain…

Why was it so special?
It was an unusual tree in that it was completely isolated from any others, and the place where it grew was significant - it was right in the middle of two dips in the landscape beside the historic Hadrian’s Wall, which made it a very symmetrically pleasing subject for photographers and artists. 

How old was it?
As well as being known for its beauty, it was thought to be around 200yo, having been planted by a local lawyer back in the day as a landscape feature. That’s old, but by comparison, Hadrian’s Wall is much older.

Tell me about the wall
It was built by the Romans at the order of the Roman Emperor Hadrian around 122 AD, and it spans Northern England to keep invaders from what is now Scotland out of the Roman Empire in Britain. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site that’s visited by millions of tourists every year - and many of them visit the Sycamore Gap tree while they’re there.

So the tree was famous…
Sure was… Along with being a backdrop for countless selfies, locals say the tree was a popular spot for marriage proposals and it’s featured in several films - a notable one was the Kevin Costner movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. And because of that, a lot of people knew it as ‘the Robin Hood tree’… So the point is that the tree wasn’t just any old tree. It was quite iconic.

So the story’s been big in Britain?
Yep, as you might imagine. But it’s also captured attention across the world not just because of where the tree was, but what it meant to people… It was viewed as a symbol of British resilience and enduring history - so it was a huge shock when people visiting the wall on the morning of September 28 in 2023 found that the tree had been cut down.

Take me through it
The tree had been cut cleanly through with a chainsaw… And reports say that once word spread of the illegal felling, devastated and furious locals started gathering at the site - many in tears.

Who was responsible?
There was a lot of commotion and confusion while police tracked down the perpetrators, and some false accusations were made… But they soon identified the culprits as Daniel Graham, a 39yo tree surgeon, and his friend Adam Carruthers, a 32yo former lumberjack.

Did they fess up?
No. They initially denied the crime, but during an 8-day trial, the jury was shown footage from Graham’s phone showing the tree being cut down, and then messages between the pair congratulating themselves for their handiwork and how the tree’s destruction was “going viral” online and being shown on TV. Needless to say, they were found guilty.

Why did they do it?
Over the course of the trial, the court heard that the pair planned the whole thing, but a clear motive wasn’t established as to why they made the 40 minute drive from their homes, then walked for 20 minutes after midnight to destroy the tree… But regardless of their reasons - or lack of - the crime was described in court as “selfish and senseless”. 

What else did the court hear?
The Crown Prosecutor Richard Wright KC said their crime was a “moronic mission” and “the arboreal equivalent of mindless thuggery”. And by pleading not guilty, he said the pair showed a “basic lack of decency and courage to own up to what they did.” At their sentencing hearing, Carruthers’ lawyer said his client had acted out of “drunken stupidity” and it was “something he would regret for the rest of his life”.

Was that accepted?
No… The judge, Christina Lambert, found that Carruthers and Graham committed the act out of “sheer bravado” and “some sort of thrill”. She said they’d “revelled in the coverage, taking pride in knowing they were responsible for the crime that so many people were talking about.” She also acknowledged that the felling of the tree had caused widespread distress in the community and she sentenced them each to 4 years and 3 months in jail.

So the tree is gone for good?
Well, the OG can’t be brought back, but there is some hope in the form of new saplings grown from cuttings taken from it… 

Tell me more…
The National Trust, the charity that looks after the site of Hadrian’s Wall and the tree, says there’s signs of new growth at its base, and separately, around 30 saplings have been successfully grown from cuttings taken from it. And part of the original trunk will also go on display in a local museum, so it’ll live on there too. And it might have a legacy even beyond that…

How so?
There have been calls in the UK for trees to have better legal protection - not only to prevent things like this from happening, but also to foster a better relationship between trees and the communities they’re in. As Andrew Allen of the Woodland Trust says: "While money goes into getting new trees in the ground, we continue to spend very little on looking after the trees we already have - and this risks serious consequences". 

What else is happening over there?
There’s also a push to encourage governments to ensure tree-planting targets are being met, as right now in the UK they’re currently well behind schedule… 

So the tree’s legacy will live on…
It looks that way… Even though the cutting down of the Sycamore Gap tree has been a distressing crime for lots of people, it might end up sprouting some good through lasting changes in the UK.

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Onto our Recommendations

Reading: This article from the BBC about some of the people falsely accused of cutting down the tree in the commotion that immediately followed.

Watching: You can see the tree in its full glory in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves - look for it early on in a scene with Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman… You can find that on Binge.

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