“A beacon of hope for everyone and for the next generations,” is how Ken Hutchinson, chair of The Friends of Segedunum, described the 3-foot sapling, planted this afternoon at Segedunum Roman Fort in Wallsend.
During a short ceremony, local MP Mary Glindon and elected mayor of North Tyneside, Karen Clark, assisted Ken in putting the Sycamore Gap sapling into the ground on a grassy bank on the museum site. The plot, overlooking the river and the quirky ‘1110 miles to Rome’ signpost, was carefully chosen to protect the archaeology of the site from the sycamore’s spreading roots.
Representing the Friends of Segedunum, Ken had applied for the sapling from the National Trust as part of their ‘Tree of Hope’ initiative. Following the devastating felling of the Sycamore Gap tree in 2023, the National Trust devised the scheme to create a legacy for the legendary tree. Aiming to turn the destruction into something that symbolises hope and resilience, forty-nine saplings were grown from seeds collected from the original tree – forty-nine representing each foot of the iconic tree’s height when it was cut down.
It was perhaps no surprise that the National Trust chose Segedunum as a home for one of the saplings. The Roman fort, situated on the River Tyne at Wallsend and built over 1900 years ago, marks the very start – or end – of Hadrian’s Wall. Today it is a major heritage site, incorporating a museum, a reconstructed bath house and a viewing tower showing the line of the wall across the landscape. It also forms the backdrop to the end of the Hadrian’s Wall walking and cycling trails.
Mary Glindon summed up the occasion, noting the excitement surrounding the planting and the symbolism of new life emerging from something that had been so devastating to the region. “I hope it grows strong and tall and that, years after we’re all gone, this tree, if it could speak, will have some tales to tell!”
