Teen arrested for cutting down famous 'Sycamore Gap' tree at Hadrian's Wall

It was the most photographed and famous tree in the north of England, and its majesty gave balance to the view of the long wall that Emperor Hadrian ordered built to protect the confines of the Roman Empire from barbarian invasions. On Thursday, workers at Northumberland National Park were shocked to discover that the 300-year-old Sycamore Gap had been brutally cut down from its base.

A 16-year-old boy has been arrested as the main suspect in an act of clear vandalism. "It was deliberately cut down," the national park administrator said. "The Northumberland National Park Authority can confirm that, sadly, the famous Sycamore Gap tree fell overnight," police confirmed.

An image of the tree, in January 2022. OLI SCARFF (AFP)

The sycamore maple was one of the most beloved trees by the British, and used to receive special mentions in the recommendations of all travelers visiting that area. In a country with a special devotion to nature and plants, such brutal news has provoked sadness and anger. The tree had resisted the inclemency of the weather for three centuries, with the same strength as the kilometers of Roman wall next to it. Maple was also famous because it was part of the scene of Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, the film starring Kevin Costner in 1991.

A woman looks at the 'Sycamore Gap' tree after it has been cut down, on September 28. LEE SMITH (REUTERS)

Tony Gates, director of Northumberland National Park, told the Guardian that staff at the centre had cried after arriving in the morning and finding the famous tree cut down. "Everyone is in shock. It is one of the most emblematic landscapes of the country," he added.

The only thing left of the maple is the base. Experts believe that the tree, conveniently pruned, will be able to revive and new shoots will emerge, but warns that its solemn image has been lost forever.

The Emperor Hadrian (76-138 AD) decided, with the construction of the wall, to bet more on the defense of an empire too vast to protect itself from new enemies than on new conquests. "That line of defense became the emblem of my renunciation of the policy of conquest," says the character imagined by Marguerite Yourcenar in her immortal novel Memoirs of Hadrian. Twenty centuries later, Hadrian's Wall continues to travel from coast to coast in northern England along 75 Roman miles (117.5 kilometers). The solemnity of the play inspired George Martin for the Ice Wall that separates the Seven Kingdoms from the wilderness in the Game of Thrones series.