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Original poster

The sycamore chopped down at Hadrian's wall

245 replies

Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · 28/09/2023 20:57

What a fucking horrible thing to do.
It must've taken a lot of effort to cut that tree down, and for what? To do something horrible for the sake of doing something horrible?

Why why why cut down a 200yr old tree? :(

OP posts:
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6
EasternStandard · 29/09/2023 07:32

This is really sad

IncomingTraffic · 29/09/2023 07:33

You’d hope that a 16 year old familiar with felling trees would know that it’s ridiculously dangerous to go out in the dark and cut a big one down on your own. He probably wasn’t alone.

i mean, choosing to cut this tree out of spite or whatever doesn’t suggest he was the brightest or more sensible though.

Booklover40 · 29/09/2023 07:34

I don't think anyone should be locked up for life over cutting down a tree, no matter how malicious.

Agree. A completely frothy over-reaction.

A very strange and malicious thing to do though.

BCCoach · 29/09/2023 07:35

And as for ‘would have been heard for miles around’, there’s nothing for miles around. And no-one would think anything peculiar about the sound of a chainsaw anyway, it’s an everyday sound.

catbla2957 · 29/09/2023 07:36

I think the punishment for this should be community payback for a very long time. Every weekend for a year doing community service. Something that will really give back

BabblesDevine · 29/09/2023 07:37

This has made me feel deeply deeply sad and I don't know exactly why

BabblesDevine · 29/09/2023 07:38

It feels like some kind of major spiritual crime

00100001 · 29/09/2023 07:38

NowWhattt · 29/09/2023 07:19

That would never happen anyway.. we’re too soft on criminals anyway in this country but in my opinion a deserving punishment would be appropriate.

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Oh lord, you're one of those people who think "life should mean life" and chuck everyone on prison for 25 years no matter the crime.

Imagine being put in prison until you die because you cut down a tree... what would you then do with the murderers and rapists?

User1539721 · 29/09/2023 07:39

If it's a local 16 year old, people will soon know who it is as there can't be that many of them living on farms round there that have access to the tools needed, isn't it quite remote

TarantinoIsAMisogynist · 29/09/2023 07:39

Shraree · 29/09/2023 07:12

It's not remote if you live here. It's a farming community where teenagers have access and experience with tools as well as quad bikes.

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Yes. A 16 year old wouldn't find it difficult to get there. Chainsaws are heavy, but not too heavy for a fit 16 year old to carry. Also, headtorches exist, so you don't need other people to hold torches for you.

That's not to say there weren't other people involved, but the idea that this is totally beyond a 16 year old is mistaken.

spitefulandbadgrammar · 29/09/2023 07:40

MidnightOnceMore · 29/09/2023 07:13

Not their style - they stay and get arrested. They want publicity for their acts of civil disobedience.

Some people seem to want to blame Just Stop Oil/environmentalists for everything!

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Perhaps it’s a group attempting to set up an environmentalist group for the fall.

TarantinoIsAMisogynist · 29/09/2023 07:41

To those saying it's remote - it's a 30 minute walk from the car park. That's not remote.

ChocolateCakeOverspill · 29/09/2023 07:41

It’s terrible that this has happened, just like the one in Kidderminster. The significance is greater but the act is the same. Is this some sort of weird dare?

The frothing calls for locking the kid up for life are utterly ridiculous, they need punishing of course but there will be people who know all the facts who can decide what this should be.

User1539721 · 29/09/2023 07:41

Community payback and a hefty fine would be appropriate, if the child can't pay it the parents should be liable for it.

MidnightOnceMore · 29/09/2023 07:41

It's a futile, infuriating loss. Humans crave being able to make sense of things so something like this is very unsettling.

MidnightOnceMore · 29/09/2023 07:42

User1539721 · 29/09/2023 07:41

Community payback and a hefty fine would be appropriate, if the child can't pay it the parents should be liable for it.

Parents can't be liable for it, that's unjust and unworkable.

TarantinoIsAMisogynist · 29/09/2023 07:42

Footprintsinthesand · 29/09/2023 07:26

I read that someone damaged it so badly that they had to bring in experts to cut it down. That's why the cut is so clean.

This isn't true. A glance at the pictures can show you that it's not true.

EveryBlinkingDay · 29/09/2023 07:43

MarigoldMaud · 28/09/2023 23:28

There’s no way a 16 yr old has walked that terrain in the dark with a heavy chainsaw, set up lights to see what he was doing, spray painted a line around the tree and then professionally felled it.
This stinks to high heaven.

This.

SoftKittyBazinga · 29/09/2023 07:43

When people ask how a 16 year old could do it, in rural parts kids grow up doing this stuff. I had a 16 year old here with is dad felling a couple of dangerous trees and using a digger to pull up the roots and re profile the ground. He was about as adept as his father.

I'm in no doubt a 16 year old could easily have done it. Probably not safely and the people who were there (assuming more than 1) are probably lucky not to have been hurt!

im gutted about what’s happened though. I love that spot.

SoupDragon · 29/09/2023 07:44

NowWhattt · 29/09/2023 07:11

What’s your suggestion for punishment then??

A wrap on the knuckles .. “ don’t do it again”.

🙄

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Do you think life imprisonment and a rap on the knuckles are the only two options available?

ArtyStripedSocks · 29/09/2023 07:44

@User1539721 they only know it's a 16 year old because they know who did it

TarantinoIsAMisogynist · 29/09/2023 07:44

I'm really shocked that there are people on here implying that it's Just Stop Oil or similar. Environmental prospectors may do many things, but they don't fell 300 year old trees.

IncomingTraffic · 29/09/2023 07:45

spitefulandbadgrammar · 29/09/2023 07:40

Perhaps it’s a group attempting to set up an environmentalist group for the fall.

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Not a very clever ploy is it? Given how unlikely it is that an environmentalist group would cut down a famous old tree as a publicity stunt.

like setting up a vegetarian by eating someone else’s steak.

BoobyDazzler · 29/09/2023 07:45

Shraree · 29/09/2023 07:10

I agree. The 16 year old was involved but he didn't do it by himself. I live locally and we have our suspicions - there's a well known grump around here who has a problem with tourists

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Dh and I were taking about this a lot yesterday and the only possible explanation is a local with a grudge imo. It’s such a bizarre thing to do, teenagers can be idiots but this type of thing wouldn’t even occur to them, what would be the point?! I’d put money on that if it was a kid that there was an adult behind it somewhere, stoking the fire.

Twice Brewed is remote and to walk to the tree from the car park carrying a chainsaw is a feat in itself. The access from the road directly is across marshland.

TulipCat · 29/09/2023 07:45

TarantinoIsAMisogynist · 29/09/2023 07:41

To those saying it's remote - it's a 30 minute walk from the car park. That's not remote.

I think we can see from this thread that all this is relative depending on one's upbringing and living environment. I live in London, have done so all my life and a 30 minute walk from the car park is remote by my standards. But then again the notion of a teenager being handy with a chainsaw is also alien to me. It depends what you're comparing it with.