How to bring a tree back to life
Ateam of conservationists are feeling hopeful after seedlings from the famous Sycamore Gap tree, which was chopped down last year, have sprouted.
The Sycamore Gap Tree was planted in Northumberland in the 19th century and was one of the most photographed trees in the country. It stood in a dip along Hadrian’s Wall, a 73-mile wall built by the Romans in about AD122. In September 2023, the tree was deliberately cut down by someone. Police are still investigating what happened.
Lots of people were very sad to see the tree cut down but a team at the National Trust’s conservation centre in Devon were determined to try to rescue it. They collected seeds and twigs from the tree as soon as possible. The seeds were planted and the twigs were used in a technique called “grafting”. This dates back to ancient Egyptians and Romans, and involves binding living twigs with fresh roots from the same species of tree to keep them alive. There are now nine surviving grafted trees and between 40 and 50 seedlings from the lost sycamore.
It isn’t the only famous tree looked after by the National Trust. It also has copies of an apple tree that scientist Isaac Newton said inspired his theory of gravity, and a 2,500 year-old tree where King Henry VIII asked Anne Boleyn to marry him. The Trust keeps these in case the originals fall down during a storm or become diseased.
If the remaining stump of the Sycamore Gap tree doesn’t regrow, the National Trust can replant one of its seedlings or grafted trees. A section of the tree that was cut down will go on display at the nearby Sill: National Landscape Discovery Centre, where visitors will be able to see it.
Andy Jasper from the National Trust told The Guardian newspaper, “It doesn’t really belong to us. It belongs to everyone.”