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Published on September 30, 2023 3:56 p.m. Updated on September 30, 2023 6:05 p.m
Video length: 1 min
France 2
Article written by France 2 – A. Bouleis, L. Soudre
France TV
The almost 300-year-old sycamore maple tree was deliberately cut down in Great Britain. In its green hollow between two hills, near Hadrian’s Wall, it was one of the most photographed trees in the country.
A charming piece of land in the north of England, cordoned off by the police like a crime scene. In the middle of the night, a nearly 300-year-old sycamore tree was felled, cleanly cut with a chainsaw. Northumbria Police, who are investigating this “deliberate act of vandalism”, announced on Friday evening, September 29, that they had arrested a “man in his 60s” in connection with the incident. A 16-year-old teenager who was arrested the previous day and suspected of “humiliation” was released on Friday morning “pending further investigation”.
Illegal felling of a tree is punishable by an unlimited fine.
The maple tree between two hills near Hadrian’s Wall was one of the most photographed in England. A social media star. Couples proposed marriage to each other under this tree. In 1991, the Sycamore Gap Tree appeared in the movie Robin Hood and Kevin Costner plucked a branch from it, making the tree famous around the world. The emotion is national. As with the death of a personality, some came to lay flowers.
Heritage charity the National Trust said it was “shocked and deeply saddened”. “We know how much this tree is loved locally, nationally and by everyone who has seen it.” The tree has been “an important and iconic feature of the landscape for almost 200 years,” added Andrew Poad, director of the National Trust, added.
In the UK, illegally felling a tree is punishable by unlimited fines and even prison time.
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