from Hacker News

Iconic tree at Hadrian's Wall's 'Sycamore Gap' has been 'felled'

by eirikurh on 9/28/23, 11:03 AM with 203 comments

  • by amiga386 on 9/28/23, 4:29 PM

    Can I just say this: BASTARD.

    What kind of bastard destroys such a thing of natural beauty?

    This bastard is not alone, there are other bastards out there. For example, Sheffield council: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/mar/06/sheffield-ci...

    and Plymouth council: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-64961358

    and this guy: https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/19660776.northwood-ma...

    and especially this guy: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-65890748

  • by jacquesm on 9/28/23, 1:33 PM

    'we have reason to believe it was deliberately felled'

    One look at the base of that trunk and I think you can upgrade that to 'we know it was deliberately felled'.

  • by jfengel on 9/28/23, 6:28 PM

    I was trying to figure out the significance of this tree. It is alongside the wall but does not date to its construction, or anywhere near.

    It is several hundred years old, which is certainly remarkable though far from unique. It seems to be known primarily for being picturesque, which is less about the tree itself and more for being located in an interesting gap in the hills. It shows up in a number of movies, and as far as I can tell, its being really famous only dates to the 1990s.

    I don't mean to diminish this. It was a much-beloved icon destroyed in senseless cruelty. I was just trying to put it into context for myself. Its proximity to the much older icon is largely coincidental.

  • by Karellen on 9/28/23, 2:55 PM

    Boy, 16, arrested after Hadrian's Wall tree felled

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-66952980

  • by zui on 9/28/23, 1:29 PM

    The tree has its own Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycamore_Gap_Tree

  • by techterrier on 9/28/23, 1:24 PM

    local landowner* was getting cross with all the people coming to see it. I've had a couple of run ins with them walking the dog there

    * edit: i mentioned this on another forum and was corrected- the land is owned by the National Trust, my run ins were probably with a tennant farmer.

  • by mellosouls on 9/28/23, 2:48 PM

    Not a bad website by the appalling standards of local newspapers in the UK but there's a better page on this story at the Beeb fwiw:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-66947040

  • by crtified on 9/29/23, 1:16 AM

    A similar thing happens in the name of public interest on a regular basis.

    https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tears-rage-hs2-killing...

    The immature, probably ill-raised boy who perpetrated this 1-tree act at Hadrian's Wall - a boy not even old enough to understand what "heritage" truly is - becomes the symbol of hatred around the world, and the full-grown man upon whose orders dozens and hundreds are killed with as-near-equally-thin-justification as to not matter, gets to be (then) Prime Minister, lauded high class high-table sitter of the world, paid 5-figures to talk for an hour, for the rest of his life.

    The rage we should expend upon the latter, but which we are societally programmed to simply accept as compromise, instead gets emotionally expended upon stupid little 1-hit-wonders like this young kid at Hadrian's - as a symbol of all that's wrong with the world, and in lieu of actually expending our deep displeasure with those who make such acts systemic, everyday business.

    We have it backwards.

  • by bombcar on 9/28/23, 2:30 PM

    Can you put it back together?

    I mean normally you wouldn't even try, but if you cut a tree like that and stick the two halves back together and support it, could it remain alive?

    I know you can graft branches ...

  • by rindalir on 9/28/23, 2:32 PM

    Perhaps this tree will get its own "Golden Spruce" story. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiidk%27yaas

  • by Accacin on 9/28/23, 2:46 PM

    I mean, it's beautiful but also another reason I'm disappointed.

    I walked Hadrian's Wall a few years ago in a very hot (for the UK) summer, and there were very few places some days to get shade and have a rest.

    The tree provided lovely shade and lots of people chose to sit there to relax, cool down, and have a drink.

  • by pvaldes on 10/1/23, 7:53 PM

    Walter Renwick, a 69 Yo retiree who lives on Plankey Mill Farm just 8 miles from the gap, was arrested on Friday.

    The farm is owned by the Jesuits. He directed an unauthorized campsite on the farm. National Trust owns an adjacent property to the campsite.

    Over a number of years, the Jesuits, have received complaints from both the local council and the National Trust about the unsocial behavior of several campers, especially in 2020.

    This lead to him being evicted in July 2023, after a 15 years grace period given from the Jesuits to find a new home [1].

    Local rumors had linked him with the tree felling, because of his former profession of lumberjack, and as revenge by been evicted from his home.

    He said that he didn't do it. "It makes it sound like me, doesn't it, because it was a good cut. It was dark obviously but it was a lovely moonlit night... the cut was brilliant. You can tell a good lumberjack by the way he cuts a tree down. I haven't seen the cut obviously, but I have seen it on the computer" [2].

    Maybe it was him or maybe not, but he had the skills, the opportunity, and the motivation.

    [1] https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1788020/Jesuits-evicting-t...

    [2] https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/sycamore-gap-lumberjack-walter-re...

  • by Floegipoky on 9/28/23, 2:39 PM

    The term "sycamore" means different things depending on the continent. In North America when we say it we're talking about the American Sycamore, platanus occidentalis. In Asia and Europe it's actually a maple, acer pseudoplatanus, and the common name for it in the US is "sycamore maple". Unfortunately it's invasive in parts of the US, and it's not even native to England.

  • by Floegipoky on 9/28/23, 2:41 PM

    The good news is that there's a very high likelihood that the tree will push new growth from the stump and survive, though it probably won't ever be as healthy and majestic as it once was.

  • by a-posteriori on 9/28/23, 1:23 PM

    This is really disappointing. Truly, some people just want to watch the world burn...

  • by kitd on 9/28/23, 3:06 PM

  • by lacker on 9/28/23, 9:32 PM

    It's sad to see.

    A large old growth redwood tree near me, destination point of some popular hikes, was intentionally burned down recently.

    https://www.parks.ca.gov/NewsRelease/1074

    Technically "the cause of the fire is unknown" but when there's a fire that burns down a single tree harming nothing around in the dense forest, it's pretty obviously intentional.

    I wish I had more to say, but it seems like just meaningless destruction, from people who wish to meaninglessly destroy things.

  • by dontlaugh on 9/28/23, 1:40 PM

    Went there a few times, it was a beautiful tree in a beautiful landscape. It's sad to think I can no longer go see it again.

  • by dboreham on 9/28/23, 1:35 PM

    I'm sure you can do "tooth pattern CSI" on a chain saw cut to prove which chain saw made it.

  • by nickdothutton on 9/28/23, 9:51 PM

    What a pity. A wanton act of vandalism. Sycamore trees live up to about 400 years so the tree would have had at least a couple of hundred years more giving pleasure to those visiting the area and providing a home for wildlife.

    Hopefully this vandal will be immortalised by the Internet for the next couple of hundred years too.

  • by perihelions on 9/28/23, 1:40 PM

    Most of modern Scotland was forest up until a fairly recent time. The felling of one tree is an instagram tragedy; the felling of one billion is an economic statistic.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caledonian_Forest

  • by laserbeam on 9/28/23, 1:27 PM

    Ya know, if you're gonna illegally chop down a tree, at least steal the wood as well... Just saying...

  • by kikokikokiko on 9/28/23, 1:53 PM

    Slightly related: I always get surprised by how "small" Hadrian wall is. I mean, it was just to demarcate tthe point where the barbarians "should not" cross I believe? For sure it wasn't working as a regular wall to stop any invasions.

  • by tristramb on 9/28/23, 2:08 PM

  • by blondie9x on 9/28/23, 1:51 PM

    This is a crime. A terrible senseless crime in a time of environmental destruction by mankind. What we need to do is take any seeds of this tree and plant 20-100 of its potential children in the area. We need to grind this tree up and make food and strengthen the soil for the future trees in the site.

    Potentially we then need more cameras or tighter restrictions when it comes to visiting the site during off hours.

    When a tree is felled it will take decades or centuries for a baby tree to offset the same amount of carbon per year. Therefore we need to make sure hundreds are planted with compost for the trees.

    Can anyone with connections to site discuss with them or share ideas with the community?

  • by pvaldes on 9/28/23, 7:33 PM

    This tik tak videos are paying for themselves

    I wonder how much we could bill for that wood

  • by pvaldes on 9/29/23, 9:56 PM

    60 Yo man has been arrested it seems

  • by jlarcombe on 9/28/23, 2:53 PM

    this is just horrible news

  • by jononomo on 9/28/23, 3:09 PM

    > Supt Kevin Waring described the tree as "a world-renowned landmark"

    This makes me think of David Foster Wallace, whom the world learned was a famous writer only after he died.

  • by londons_explore on 9/28/23, 2:01 PM

    Wild guess:

    Someone had a romantic photo taken with this tree, and someone else was determined to cut down the tree as a sign of the end of the relationship.

  • by colesantiago on 9/28/23, 1:40 PM

    So?

    It's just a tree, why should we care about it just because a random person planted a seed a hundred years ago?