The New Murrey and Blue blog

There’s life in the old sycamore girl yet….!

Not medieval news, unless you count its famous appearance in the Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. And I’m afraid I’m a few months late with this post, but it’s encouraging news about a lost, much-mourned landmark.

We were all appalled and upset when, on the night of 27/28 September 2023, morons cut down the famous 200-year-old sycamore of Sycamore Gap. The tree was thought to have been lost forever, but now it seems the old girl is still with us in the form of new shoots! It will take some time to reach its former glory, but one day—hopefully—it will.

According to this link https://news.sky.com/story/eight-new-shoots-emerge-from-sycamore-gap-stump-13188395: “….The National Trust and Northumberland National Park Authority hope the shoots will develop significant growth and form ‘new’ trees around the original stump….”

They’re putting fencing around the stump, to protect it, but I fear some lowlife might see that as a challenge! Unless, of course, the punishment for the initial crime proves a suitable deterrent. Which I certainly hope it will.

The above link also tells us that “….Seedlings gathered after the tree was felled continue to flourish at the National Trust’s Plant Conservation Centre….Saplings will possibly be planted in the next two years….”

So here’s the story in three pictures:-

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  1. M.E. Lawrence Avatar
    M.E. Lawrence

    Good to read such a hopeful post. It’s bad enough when a wind storm blows down a much-loved tree, as happened with our block’s enormous California live oak (Quercus agrifolia) here in Northern California; many neighbors gathered around it and some of us wept. The sycamore’s felling was just an ugly incident, and I’m very glad this beautiful tree might live again.

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  2. The wonkiest houses in Britain….? – murreyandblue

    […] Honestly, I cannot understand the mentality of those who can do this to much loved landmarks. What happened to the Crooked House pub was an outrage that shocked the world, as you can see if you simply do a search for it. This old pub was famous and people came from all over to see it….yet some clods thought they were clever to burn it down and then flatten it! I put this on a level with the murder of the wonderful old sycamore tree on Hadrian’s Wall. (https://murreyandblue.org/2024/10/10/theres-life-in-the-old-sycamore-girl-yet/) […]

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