Saving the Sycamore Gap - and how Staffordshire is playing its part as tree lives again

The Sycamore Gap is to grow again – and Staffordshire is playing its part.

The first saplings grown from the illegally felled Sycamore Gap tree are to be planted as National Tree Week kicks off, the National Trust has said.

Five saplings will go in the ground today (Saturday), with more than half of the 49 “trees of hope” from the sycamore that stood for more than a century in a dip in Hadrian’s Wall expected to be planted over the course of the week.

The tree was deliberately cut down overnight in September 2023, prompting a national outcry and a police investigation.

Earlier this year, Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers were found guilty of its illegal felling and were sentenced to more than four years in prison.

The saplings – 49 to mark the sycamore’s height in feet when it was c