Lee Smith/Reuters
One of the world’s most beloved trees was chopped down Wednesday night in an apparent act of vandalism.
The iconic Sycamore Gap Tree at Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, England, played a central role in the 1991 Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and was named Tree of the Year in 2016 by the Woodland Trust. Before it was unceremoniously razed by an unknown party apparently wielding a chainsaw, the tree, known to many as “Robin Hood’s Tree,” was one of the most photographed trees in the U.K.
In a statement, the Northumberland National Park Authority said it “can confirm that sadly, the famous tree at Sycamore Gap has come down over night. We have reason to believe it has been deliberately felled.” Officials are asking the public “not to visit the site at this time whilst we work with our partners to identify what has happened and to make the site safe.”