2023-09-28 21:43:24
One of Britain’s most photographed trees has been illegally brought down overnight. As the authority responsible for Northumberland National Park said on Thursday, the plane tree, which stood 60 kilometers west of Newcastle in northeast England, was allegedly “deliberately felled”. Due to its picturesque location in a depression – the so-called “Sycamore Gap” – the tree was the backdrop for a central scene in the 1991 film “Robin Hood” with Kevin Costner.
According to Northumbria Region Police, a 16-year-old was arrested and questioned in connection with the incident. He is accused of criminal damage, but the investigators are still at the beginning of their investigation into the “senseless crime”. Police officer Kevin Waring spoke of the “shock, sadness and anger” that the destruction of the tree caused among residents of the region and beyond.
As AFP reporters observed, the plane tree standing on Roman Hadrian’s Wall was sawn through. The tree has tipped over onto the wall, only the stump is still standing. The police cordoned off the area with blue and white police tape. Onlookers were asked not to get too close to the felled tree.
Chainsaw in use
The National Park Authority said it was working with all relevant authorities and partner organizations to investigate the incident. Local politician Steven Bridgett wrote on the online network X (formerly Twitter) that the tree was “definitely felled with a chainsaw.” The nature conservation and heritage organization National Trust wrote on X that the tree was an “important and distinctive part of the landscape” for around 200 years.
After the felling of the plane tree became known, numerous people expressed their dismay on online networks and shared memories associated with it. A user wrote on Facebook that he proposed to his wife by the tree.
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Local MP Mary Foy called the alleged felling of the tree a “heartbreaking act of senseless vandalism of a much-loved and iconic North East landmark” that would upset “many people across the country – and even the world”.
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