Sycamore Gap’s first ‘offspring’ trees planted

The first saplings from the illegally logged Sycamore Gap tree have been planted.

Two saplings have been installed in Coventry and Staffordshire, and others will be planted in Berkshire, Cambridge and Strabane, County Tyrone, the National Trust said.

More plantings will take place in Hexham, Leeds and Sunderland next week.

It is part of the charity’s Trees of Hope initiative, which received almost 500 applications for the 49 saplings grown from seeds rescued from the tree, which stood in a hollow next to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland until two men felled it in September 2023.

Daniel Michael Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, both from Cumbria, were sentenced to four years and three months in prison in July after being found guilty of criminal damage.

Hilary McGrady, chief executive of the National Trust, said the saplings would become an inspiration and a home for nature, but also a reminder that “there are always good things worth fighting for, even after something so meaningless”.

There are 49 young trees in total, one for every foot of height of the old tree.

More than half of them will be planted during National Tree Week, between November 22 and 30.

The first places they planted their trees were The Tree Sanctuary in Coventry, where three teenagers launched a project to rescue their town’s trees, and a site commemorating the Minnie Pit mining disaster in Staffordshire.

Seedlings will also be sent to Greenham Common in Berkshire, Lisnafin Community Center in Strabane and Coton Loves Pollinators in Cambridge.

Ahead of the event, The Tree Sanctuary co-founder Martina Irwin said planting the sapling would be really special.

“We have chosen to plant it among other ‘saved’ trees we have planted on Sowe Common, serving as a beacon to inspire respect, understanding and a sense of responsibility towards all trees,” he said.

Next week, saplings will take root at the Rob Burrow Center for Motor Neurone Diseases at Seacroft Hospital in Leeds, Hexham General Hospital in Northumberland and the Veterans in Crisis charity in Sunderland.

An additional sapling will be planted in its grounds in early December and has been given to the nearest school to Sycamore Gap, Henshaw Church of England Primary School.

A further 15 saplings will be housed in each of the UK’s national parks, including Northumberland National Park, where the tree stood, in early 2026.

Andrew Poad, managing director of the National Trust’s Hadrian’s Wall estates, said: “It’s incredible to think that the first ‘offspring’ of this famous tree will be planted this weekend.

“It seems like yesterday when those first provisional shots appeared.”

He added that he hoped the saplings would touch many people’s lives “just like the original tree.”

The first sapling grown from the Sycamore Gap tree was gifted to King Charles III last summer and will be planted for the nation at a later date, the National Trust said.