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The sycamore maple, almost 300 years old, was deliberately cut down in the UK. In its green hollow between two hills, near Hadrian’s Wall, it was one of the most photographed trees in the country.
An enchanting corner of the countryside in the north of England, cordoned off by the police, like a crime scene. A maple sycamore almost 300 years old was felled in the middle of the night, cut cleanly 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 sixties in connection with the incident”. A 16-year-old boy, arrested the day before and suspected of “degradations”was released Friday morning “while awaiting further investigations”.
Illegal cutting of a tree is punishable by an unlimited fine.
The maple tree nestled between two hills, near Hadrian’s Wall, was one of the most photographed in England. A social media star. Under this tree, couples proposed to each other. In 1991, the Sycamore Gap Tree appears in the film Robin Hoodand Kevin Costner tears off a branch, making the tree famous around the world. The emotion is national. As at the death of a personality, some came to lay flowers.
The heritage protection organization, the National Trust, said “shocked and desperately sad”. “We know how much this tree is loved locally, nationally, and by everyone who has seen it.”. This tree is “an important and emblematic element of the landscape for almost 200 years”added National Trust director Andrew Poad.
In the United Kingdom, illegal cutting of a tree is punishable by a fine without ceiling and even a prison sentence.