First Sycamore Gap tree 'offsprings' to be planted
This weekend, the first saplings growing from the illegally felled Sycamore Gap tree will be planted. The National Trust announced that five saplings would be installed in Coventry, Staffordshire, Berkshire, Cambridge, and Strabane on Saturday. In Hexham, Leeds, and Sunderland, more plantings will take place next week. It's part of the Trees of Hope project, which attracted nearly 500 applicants for the 49 saplings grown from the tree's seeds, which stood in a dip next to Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland until two men from Cumbria cut it down one night in September 2023.
After being found guilty of criminal responsibility, Daniel Michael Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, were jailed for four years and three months in July. The saplings will be a source of inspiration and home for nature, according to Hilary McGrady, the National Trust's director general, but also a reminder that there are always good things to strive for,
even after something so silly.
Where will the saplings go?
In total, there are 49 saplings, one for each foot of the old tree's height. During National Tree Week, more than half of them will be planted between the 22nd and the 30th of November. On Saturday, the Tree Sanctuary in Coventry, where three teenagers set up a scheme to save their city's trees, and a site in Staffordshire commemorating the Minnie Pit mining disaster. Saplings will also visit Greenham Common in Berkshire,Lisnafin Community Centre in Strabane, and Coton Loves Pollinators in Cambridge Planting its sapling would be really special, according to Martina Irwin, co-founder of the Tree Sanctuary in Coventry.
she said. The Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease at Seacroft Hospital in Leeds, Hexham General Hospital in Northumberland, and the charity Veterans in Crisis in Sunderland will take root next week. An additional sapling plant will be planted in the grounds of the school closest to Henshaw Church of England Primary School in December. In each of the UK's National Parks, including Northumberland National Park, where the tree was planted in early 2026, another 15 saplings will be housed.We've chosen to plant it among some other 'saved' trees that we have planted on Sowe Common, as a sign of respect, knowledge, and a sense of responsibility toward all trees,
Andrew Poad, general manager for the National Trust's Hadrian Wall properties, said.It's amazing to think that the first 'offspring' of this very popular tree will be planted this weekend,
Just like the original tree," he said, hoping that the saplings would touch many people's lives. The very first sapling growing from the Sycamore Gap tree was given to His Majesty The King last summer, and the National Trust announced that this will be planted for the country at a later date. Follow BBC North East onXandFacebook and BBC Cumbria onXAndFaceBook, as well as BBC CumIt seems that those first shots appeared just yesterday.
