A sapling taken from the Sycamore Gap tree has been stolen from the grounds of a castle just months after it was planted, according to The Guardian.
The Sycamore Gap tree, on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, was one of the UK’s best-known and most loved trees. It was criminally felled for no apparent reason on a stormy night in September 2023.
Last July Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers were found guilty over the illegal felling of the tree and sentenced to more than four years in prison.
The National Trust collected seeds from the tree, which was at least 100 years old, and 49 saplings were successfully salvaged, to be planted across the country as “signs of hope.”
Gardens and historic sites across the country clamored for the saplings, with one receiving at least 500 applications. But now, one has been stolen from the picturesque grounds of Wray parkland and castle in Cumbria where it was planted in April this year.
The castle’s staff believe it was taken deliberately. Jez Westgarth, the National Trust’s assistant director for Cumbria and Lancashire, said it must have been taken to plant elsewhere.
“It hasn’t just been pulled up recklessly – somebody’s thought about what they’re doing,” he told the BBC.
The trust said staff were “saddened” by the theft and appealed to the public to come forward with information.
Laura Lee, the National Trust’s general manager for the Lake District, said: “We are shocked and saddened that a sapling from the Sycamore Gap tree that was gifted to the Lake District national park and planted at Wray in April 2026 has been stolen.”
She added: “Grown from seeds gathered from the much-loved tree at Hadrian’s Wall, which was illegally felled in 2023, it was one of 15 saplings planted across the UK’s national parks as a symbol of hope and resilience among our most protected landscapes.”
