UK: Hadrian's Wall Sycamore Gap tree 'deliberately felled'

The Northumberland National Park Authority awoke on Thursday to find the park's most famous tree "deliberately felled" at its base and destroyed forever.

The sycamore tree strikingly located in a sudden dip in the landscape between two hills along the path of the Roman fortification Hadrian's Wall had stood there for hundreds of years. The park considered it its most photographed location. 

"The famous tree at Sycamore Gap has come down over night. We have reason to believe it has been deliberately felled," Northumberland National Park Authority said in statement.

"We are working with the relevant agencies and partners with an interest in this iconic North East landmark and will issue more details once they are known."

Images of the tree seemed to point unmistakeably to it having been felled using a chainsaw, with a clean incision through its broad trunk, following a night of mild weather and low winds in the area.

The felled tree was left lying on its side at the scene, perched on the remains of Hadrian's Wall near Crag Lough.

A 16-year-old boy was arrested later on Thursday though it was not immediately clear if he was the only suspect. 

"Given our investigation remains at a very early stage, we are keeping an open mind," Superintendent Kevin Waring said.

Outrage in the community

Northumbria police had announced a "full investigation" soon after the news broke and said anybody found responsible "can expect to be dealt with swiftly and appropriately." 

"This is an incredibly sad day. The tree was iconic to the North East and enjoyed by so many who live in or who have visited this region," Superintendent Kevin Waring said. 

The mayor for the North of Tyne area, Jamie Driscoll, called the tree "part of our collective soul," noting how it was a popular site for significant personal events like marriage proposals and the scattering of ashes. 

Britain's National Trust charity, which administers the country's national parks, said it was "shocked and desperately saddened" by the apparent act of "vandalism." 

The park asked visitors to avoid the site on Thursday so as not to interfere with the investigation. 

Also known as the 'Robin Hood Tree'

Already renowned in much of the UK, the tree featured heavily in the 1991 film "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" and became more widely known as a result. 

It later gained the secondary nickname of the Robin Hood Tree and featured in the music video for Bryan Adams' long-running number 1 hit single "(Everything I do) I do it for you".

It narrowly escaped damage in 2003 when a helicopter filming for a British TV show crashed just a few meters from it. 

The sycamore also won the public vote in Britain's Tree of the Year award in 2016. 

It's located roughly equidistantly between northern England's eastern and western coastlines, east of Carlisle and west of Newcastle upon Tyne. 

Where the Romans' march north halted

The felled tree had over the centuries grown to augment another ancient and famous landmark in the area, sprouting as it did just a few meters from the remnants of the Roman fortification Hadrian's Wall. 

Built on the orders of the Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD, the wall stretched from the eastern to the western coast of what's now northern England. 

The fortification served as the northern frontier of the Roman Empire, after Roman forces had tried and failed to conquer territory further north, mostly in what's now Scotland, and once Hadrian ultimately decided to simply protect the northern fringe of the empire with the superstructure and to give up on advancing to the northern extremes of Great Britain. 

Hadrian's Wall also played a large part in the conception of the popular books and TV series "Game of Thrones", with author George R.R. Martin's visit to the area providing the inspiration for the giant ice wall protecting the northern extreme of his fictitious Seven Kingdoms of Westeros from barbarians — and worse — beyond. 

British antiquities historian Tom Holland, author of several books on the Roman Empire, on Thursday simply asked "Why on earth would someone do this?" on seeing the news of the tree's destruction. 

msh/jcg (AFP, dpa, Reuters)