Saplings from the illegally felled Sycamore Gap tree are to be planted across the UK, including at a pit disaster site, a town healing from the Troubles, and a site that became an international symbol of peace and protest. The National Trust announced that planting of 49 saplings, known as 'trees of hope', would begin on Saturday, during National Tree Week.
The Sycamore Gap tree, located on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, was one of the UK's most beloved trees before it was cut down in September 2023. Hilary McGrady, director general of the National Trust, credited the quick thinking of conservationists for allowing the tree to live on through the saplings, which were grown from seeds collected after the felling.
Nearly 500 applications were received for the saplings, which are now between four and six feet tall. The first five plantings include Greenham Common in Berkshire, where a military control tower used during the women's peace camps of the 1980s will host a sapling; Strabane in County Tyrone, as a symbol of healing from the Troubles; the Minnie Pit mining disaster site in Staffordshire; the Tree Sanctuary in Coventry; and Coton Orchard in Cambridgeshire.
Helen Beard of the Greener Greenham Common Group described the sapling as 'a powerful way to spread a message of hope – for nature, our environment and for peace'. In Strabane, the tree will also serve as a tribute to John Gallagher, a community member who died from motor neurone disease.
Further plantings later in the week will include the Rob Burrow centre for motor neurone disease in Leeds, Hexham general hospital in Northumberland, and a veterans' charity in Sunderland. Andrew Poad, general manager for the National Trust's Hadrian's Wall properties, expressed confidence that the hardy sycamores will thrive in various conditions.
