In some ways, the sense of loss from the indiscriminate cutting of the Sycamore Gap tree is deepest in the spring.
Certainly, that’s what visitors here feel, particularly those who place daffodils and rosaries where it once stood.
For it was at this time of year that the mighty sentinel by Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland was always at its resplendent best, with its brilliant emerald leaves.
“When the tree was in its glory, it seemed like a very special place, something mystical,” says hiker Dee McGonagle, who like many others felt its destruction as a grief.
Above, the gray, rainy sky suddenly lights up, making the void left by the famous monument seem more visible.
The Sycamore Gap tree next to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland was felled on 28 September 2023.
Northumbria Police questioned a 16-year-old boy and former woodcutter Walter Renwick, 69, who have since been released.
Blue police tape was placed around the scene of the shooting as coroners arrived to investigate.
Northumbria Police forensic investigators examine the Sycamore Gap tree after it was felled last year.
The tree was cut down in the middle of the night and fell on the other side of the ancient Roman wall.
“It would have been a perfect day to take a picture,” Dee observes. For her and many others, this is how the tree sticks in her mind: her silhouette in high relief against the cloud-dappled blue.
But in addition to the memories, the mystery of what happened here in the middle of that stormy night last September dominates the thoughts.
Six months later, the question remains unanswered: Who chainsawed down the 150-year-old tree, this great symbol of the Northeast, and why? And why haven’t the police brought anyone to court yet?
Locals joke that the stump will grow back before the culprit is found. Some sadly predict that the case will never be solved.
At first it seemed that this rural detective novel would end in a few days.
There was no shortage of suspects. The locals assumed that the culprit was among them.
Who else but a local could navigate the remote and rugged terrain in the dark?
One suspect, a 16-year-old boy, was said to have a complaint against the National Trust, which owns the land around the tree.
Another, a 67-year-old former lumberjack, was forced to publicly deny his involvement after police raided his home and took his chainsaw.
A single flower laid by a heartbroken visitor paying tribute to the fallen sycamore
Forensic investigators from Northumbria Police examine the scene of the cruel felling the following day.
Shocked and saddened locals gathered around the felled tree the morning after it was felled.
The pair were later told they would face no further action, but not before the teen received death threats.
As time went by, the theories became more and more fanciful. Some suggested a hidden link. Then the trail seemed to grow cold.
Indeed, the investigation has been quietly gathering pace and Northumbria Police are hopeful of laying charges soon. Two men in their 30s remain free on bail.
County councilor John Riddle recently asked a senior official about the progress and says he was told a recommendation was likely to be made to the Crown Prosecution Service.
He said: “I was pleasantly surprised because, like many others, I was wondering if we would ever get to the bottom of this.”
The saplings have grown after seeds and twigs were taken from the site of the tree felling and carefully cultivated to bring the tree back to life.
The National Trust Plant Conservation took a shoot taken from the stump of the felled Sycamore Gap tree to a specialist centre.
Seedlings, buds and grafted shoots extracted from the Sycamore Gap tree after felling are being cared for at a specialized center
Another thing that may surprise, says a source close to the investigation, is that the suspects are not local but come from neighboring Cumbria.
According to one source: “The theory is that the person responsible was not motivated by grievances but rather acted out of pure childishness.”
In the 1980s, walkers barely paid attention to the now world-famous sycamore.
But it later appeared in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, starring Kevin Costner, and was voted English Tree of the Year in 2016.
Social media accelerated its popularity and it soon became a favorite place for marriage proposals, scattering ashes and, of course, photographs.
One of the first theories was that the tree was cut down as a joke on social media.
While there are no CCTV near the site, it is understood police know the feller’s route to the tree – the path from the Steel Rigg car park that follows Hadrian’s Wall on a rocky rollercoaster over hills and open moors.
It is thought that mobile phone triangulation could be included in any process, but it is unclear to what extent, if any, the tree’s DNA will play a role.
The 300-year-old sycamore was nicknamed the Robin Hood tree after it appeared in the 1991 hit film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, starring Kevin Costner.
A sign next to the stump that was brutally felled in September last year says the tree is still alive and asks visitors to be respectful of the stump.
The samples would produce genetic material that could then be compared to sawdust found on any potential suspect’s clothing or machinery.
But the time that has passed since the crime seems to indicate a dearth of forensic clues.
Three years ago, DNA from a tree was used as evidence in the United States to convict the leader of a gang of illegal loggers who cut down precious maple trees in a Washington forest.
However, few in this part of Northumberland believe that the Sycamore Gap mystery will be solved so easily.
Still, they were encouraged to learn last month that fresh sprouts had emerged from seeds rescued from the tree and from twigs taken to a “high security greenhouse” in Devon the day after its destruction.
At Sycamore Gap there is similar hope. “This stump is still alive,” warns a sign. “If we leave it alone, it could generate new growth.”
