First saplings from felled Sycamore Gap tree are planted

The first saplings grown from the illegally felled Sycamore Gap tree have been planted as National Tree Week gets under way.

Five saplings went in the ground on Saturday, with more than half of the 49 “trees of hope” from the sycamore that stood for more than a century in a dip in Hadrian’s Wall expected to be planted over the course of the week.

The tree was deliberately cut down overnight in September 2023, prompting a national outcry and a police investigation.

Earlier this year, Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers were found guilty over the illegal felling and were sentenced to more than four years in prison.

The saplings – which number 49 to mark the sycamore’s height in feet when it was cut down – were grown from the seeds and material rescued from the felled tree, which grew on land cared for by the National Trust, and were nurtured at the charity’s plant conservation centre.

The first places to receive the trees, which are now between four and six feet tall, include the Tree Sanctuary in Coventry, where a teenage trio set up a project to rescue their city’s trees.

Saplings were also set to be planted on Saturday at a site commemorating the Minnie Pit mining disaster in Staffordshire and at the former military base and location of the protest camp at Greenham Common, Berkshire, which reopened to the public in 2000.

Later in the week, saplings will be planted at the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease at Seacroft Hospital in Leeds, at Hexham General Hospital in Northumberland, and at a veterans’ charity, Veterans in Crisis, in Sunderland.

The first sapling grown from the Sycamore Gap tree was gifted to the King last summer and will be planted on behalf of the nation at a later date.

More than 500 applications were received to host one of the 49 saplings, the National Trust said.

One of the successful applicants is the Tree Amigos, which set up a tree sanctuary for unwanted trees in 2023, and planted their tree of hope on Sowe Common North on Saturday.

Early next month, an additional sapling which was given to the school closest to the Sycamore Gap, Henshaw Church of England Primary School, will be planted in its grounds.

And another 15 saplings will be planted in each of the UK’s national parks in early 2026, including one in Northumberland where the original sycamore stood.