Why the loss of the Sycamore Gap Tree saw an outpouring of emotion
The sentencing of the two men who felled the Sycamore Gap Tree has brought back the incredibly strong emotions of the loss of such a world-famous, iconic national piece of history.
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The senseless act disrupted more than just a landscape; it disrupted people’s internal maps, emotional connections, and collective memory of a place.
Psychology and neuroscience help explain why the loss of iconic landmarks can feel deeply personal and disorienting.
For instance, research suggests that prominent landmarks are important in shaping our ’sense of place;’ the cognitive and emotional bond that people form with specific locations.
So, what affects our emotional bond to places?
One idea is that these bonds are strengthened by the ‘imageability’ of a landmark. In other words, how easily it can be recognised, remembered, or imagined. It is thought that certain visual features, like colour, symmetry, or the ability to see it from many different angles, makes a location more imageable.
The Sycamore Gap tree clearly passes the imageability test. It’s striking silhouette, geographical isolation, and cultural visibility made it a powerful emotional and spatial anchor.
The tree also helped people find their way – quite literally. In psychology and neuroscience, we refer to ‘cognitive maps.’ These are internal models of space that allow us to remember and navigate spatial environments in a flexible way. Research shows these maps are shaped by fixed landmarks, and when such landmarks are rotated or removed, it can cause disorientation and even discomfort.
Our close emotional bond to places is also not just something we feel, but part of how we are wired. For example, the neural circuits involved in spatial cognition are densely interconnected with brain regions involved in emotion processing. This intimate binding in the brain reflects our close emotional ties to places out in the world.
Looking beyond the individual, the tree also formed part of the region’s cultural memory. It served as a waypoint for wanderers and visitors for many generations. Its image was captured and shared in photographs, artwork, films, and personal stories. In this way, it contributed to a collective narrative that connects people across time and place.
What’s lost, then, is not just a tree, but a connection to a collective past.
This helps explain why, for many, its removal feels like a form of bereavement - an emotional rupture in the continuity of place and identity.
The Sycamore Gap tree wasn’t just a famous tree – it was a powerful spatial and emotional anchor.
Its loss affects not only how we see the landscape, but also how we understand, navigate, and relateto it, both individually and collectively.
The hope is that this strong emotional response to its destruction can be harnessed to support future conservation efforts in the north of England and beyond.
Dr Carl Hodgetts is a cognitive neuroscientist and associate professor in cognitive neuroscience at Royal Holloway, University of London.
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