00:00Three years after the Sycamore Gap tree was illegally fouled, the stump is showing signs
00:06that it still may have a future. The National Trust says a thick ring of new shoots has
00:12grown around the base of the tree on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland. Rangers had fenced
00:18off the stump after it was cut down in September 2023, hoping that the roots might survive.
00:24The Trust says measures including reducing sole compaction and limiting disturbance appear
00:31to be helping. General Manager Andrew Poe says the growth is encouraging and gives the tree
00:37the best possible chance to thrive. The original Sycamore was planted in the late 1800s and
00:43became one of the Northeast's best known landmarks, attracting photographers, walkers and visitors
00:50from around the world. It also appeared in the 1991 film Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.
00:57Daniel Graham and Adam Karubas travelled from Cumbria during a storm to cut the tree down
01:03with a chainsaw. They filmed themselves carrying out the attack and removed a wedge of the trunk
01:09as a trophy. Both were later convicted of criminal damage to the tree and also to Hadrian's Wall.
01:16They were jailed for four years and three months. The National Trust has also grown seedlings from the
01:21tree at a secret conservation centre, with young saplings later donated to communities and charities
01:28around the country.
