By Linnea Pejcha on October 5, 2026

There can be regrowth even after the toughest of blows, as we’ve learned from England’s beloved Sycamore Gap tree. Now, three years after the tree was chopped down in an act of vandalism, it is continuing its slow but hopeful process of growing back.

For nearly 200 years, the tree stood in a dramatic dip between two hills along Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, England, making it an especially popular spot for photographs. But on the morning of September 28, 2023, a local farmer discovered that it had been cut down with a chainsaw, with its crown falling across part of the ancient wall.

The two men responsible, Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers, were later found guilty of two counts of criminal damage and sentenced to four years and three months in prison, though neither admitted to cutting down the tree. Earlier this year, Carruthers was released from prison to serve the remainder of his sentence at home under strict conditions.

Sycamore Gap on Hadrian’s Wall showing the aftermath of the tree felling, Northumberland, UK, in 2025. (Photo: ianthraves/Depositphotos)

The crime rocked the local community of Northumberland, as well as England on a larger scale, because of just how beloved the tree had become. It appeared in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and was even named English Tree of the Year by the Woodland Trust in 2016. Archaeologists later discovered that the falling tree had also damaged part of Hadrian’s Wall, the 73-mile fortification built by the Roman army beginning around 122 CE.

But the great news is that the tree is refusing to disappear completely. For the third year in a row, new shoots have grown from around the base of the stump, and this year they have formed a thick ring reaching between 2 and 3 feet tall. A small fence now surrounds the area to protect the roots and give the tree the best possible chance of survival.

“These flourishing shoots are really encouraging and show that the special measures we’ve taken—including reducing soil compaction around the roots and limiting human disturbance—are paying off,” says Andrew Poad, general manager for the National Trust at Hadrian’s Wall.

Source: https://mymodernmet.com/sycamore-gap-tree-regrowth/