How Do You Honor a Fallen Tree? In England, a Sound Sculpture Will Broadcast the ‘Voice’ of a Beloved Sycamore Felled Near Hadrian’s Wall

“The People’s Tree” will also incorporate the tree’s wood and archive recordings from the public in a series of community artworks

Christian Thorsberg | Daily Correspondent

May 27, 2026 4:51 p.m.

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A new multimedia artwork will honor the life, beauty and impact of the Sycamore Gap’s iconic tree, which in fall 2023 was illegally felled in an act of vandalism inside England’s Northumberland National Park.

The People’s Tree, a sprawling sound experience planned for multiple locations, was the favorite from a shortlist of six finalists in a contest announced last fall that called for proposals exploring the themes of connection to nature, memory, place or community. The winning design, recently announced, scored the highest in both a public survey and from a panel of judges.

Rather than functioning as one standalone tribute, the installation will take inspiration from the helicopter form of sycamore seeds, which disperse far and wide when they flutter from branches.

When the world discovered the century-old tree, picturesquely situated in between two hills, had been felled, the loss reverberated worldwide. Fittingly, international participation is central to the winning art proposal. Members of the public will be invited to share recorded reflections on what the tree meant to them, and these will be gathered into an archive and shared in a series of exhibitions and workshops “held to the north, south, east and west of Sycamore Gap,” according to a statement from the National Trust, the heritage and conservation organization that organized the contest.

This reflects the widespread popularity of the tree.

“A lot of people felt a personal connection to it,” said Tony Gates, chief executive of Northumberland National Park, to the New York Times’ Rory Smith in 2023.

The tree’s own “voice” also will resound. Artists will scan its rings and turn that data into a soundtrack. These sounds will play from a sculpture erected along Hadrian’s Wall that incorporates some preserved wood from the tree.

“To be chosen by both the public and the judging panel feels phenomenal,” Cheryl Gavin, the director of Helix Arts, the firm behind the design, says in a statement. “This project comes from a belief that the legacy of the Sycamore Gap tree lives not only in its wood, but in the relationships, memories and moments of connection it sparked.”

The installation is expected to open in September 2027.

The People’s Tree is one of several initiatives in recent years to honor the Sycamore Gap tree. In 2025, a large section of the tree’s trunk was put on display at The Sill: National Landscape Discovery Center, roughly two miles from where it once stood. In November, the first saplings grown from the tree were distributed to community organizations.

The announcement of the winning design coincides with news that new shoots are beginning this spring to grow from the tree’s stump, “giving further confidence that one day a new tree will grow in the Gap,” according to the National Trust statement.

Christian Thorsberg | Read More

Christian Thorsberg is an environmental writer and photographer from Chicago. His work, which often centers on freshwater issues, climate change and subsistence, has appeared in Circle of Blue, Sierra magazine, Discover magazine and Alaska Sporting Journal.