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On Sycamore Gap: A celebration of the tree we lost and those to come
A celebration of the tree we lost and those to come
From poet Kate Fox comes a book for everyone who knew the famous silhouette of the tree that stood at Sycamore Gap.
For those who took shelter, saw its branches against the sky or heard the leaves dance; for all the picnics next to it and the proposals under it. For anyone who feels the strength of silent roots and the quiet promise of the turning year. For any of us who measure time in rings and wait for green leaves to grow again.
For everyone who felt a loss when the gap was just a gap once more, these are words that grew in the space, the hope that shoots like seedlings.
Grown against the wide sky of Northumbria, at a place of borders where ancient history meets our modern lives, the tree that stood for so long still has much to say.
This is a book of growth, loss and renewal, a song from soil to soul, about how we all live where the earth meets the sky.
From poet Kate Fox comes a book for everyone who knew the famous silhouette of the tree that stood at Sycamore Gap.
For those who took shelter, saw its branches against the sky or heard the leaves dance; for all the picnics next to it and the proposals under it. For anyone who feels the strength of silent roots and the quiet promise of the turning year. For any of us who measure time in rings and wait for green leaves to grow again.
For everyone who felt a loss when the gap was just a gap once more, these are words that grew in the space, the hope that shoots like seedlings.
Grown against the wide sky of Northumbria, at a place of borders where ancient history meets our modern lives, the tree that stood for so long still has much to say.
This is a book of growth, loss and renewal, a song from soil to soul, about how we all live where the earth meets the sky.
- GenresPoetry
80 pages, Hardcover
Published July 15, 2025
1 person is currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
Kate Fox
36 books94 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Kate Fox is a social anthropologist and Public Relations director. She is the director of the Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC).
Fox is the daughter of an anthropologist Robin Fox (not to be confused with the famous historian Robin Lane Fox). As a child she lived in the UK, the United States, France and Ireland. She studied for an undergraduate degree in anthropology and philosophy at Cambridge University. After a period in publishing and marketing in 1989 she became a co-director of MCM Research, a PR and marketing firm. She is now a director of the Social Issues Research Centre, which is a PR front group, that is funded by the marketing company MCM Research based in Oxford, England.
Kate Fox is a social anthropologist and Public Relations director. She is the director of the Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC).
Fox is the daughter of an anthropologist Robin Fox (not to be confused with the famous historian Robin Lane Fox). As a child she lived in the UK, the United States, France and Ireland. She studied for an undergraduate degree in anthropology and philosophy at Cambridge University. After a period in publishing and marketing in 1989 she became a co-director of MCM Research, a PR and marketing firm. She is now a director of the Social Issues Research Centre, which is a PR front group, that is funded by the marketing company MCM Research based in Oxford, England.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 15, 2025
Latin name: Acer pseudoplantanus
Common name: Sycamore
I was privileged enough to see the Sycamore Gap tree before those arseholes cut it down (they're in prison now). It was beautiful, nestled in the dip of the hills, on Hadrian's Wall, thought to be somewhere between 150 and 190 years old.
This was a lovely little tribute to that tree and how it made people feel. Lovely poetry!
Common name: Sycamore
I was privileged enough to see the Sycamore Gap tree before those arseholes cut it down (they're in prison now). It was beautiful, nestled in the dip of the hills, on Hadrian's Wall, thought to be somewhere between 150 and 190 years old.
This was a lovely little tribute to that tree and how it made people feel. Lovely poetry!
June 22, 2025
A touching sequence of poems remembering the illustrious history of a felled tree.
Despite the anger felt at the Sycamore Gap tree being cut down after over 150 years of standing beside Hadrian's Wall, Fox chooses to focus on the positives. Her verse dwells on historical figures connected to Sycamore Gap, from archaeologists to Pagan Gods, but also everyday people as well. So many have visited this tree in its lifetime, bringing their bold romantic gestures and peaceful moments to it. Though humanity has definitely taken this tree and its fellows for granted, at least we have shared some of our love with it.
As well as an ongoing narrative poem, Fox employs other forms such as haiku and palindromic poetry to encompass her feelings about Sycamore Gap tree's legacy. While scansion and word choice occasionally brought me out of it, I found this a delightful ode to an arboreal marvel.
If you have ever visited this famous tree or just wish that you did, I can heartily recommend seeking out a copy of On Sycamore Gap.
Despite the anger felt at the Sycamore Gap tree being cut down after over 150 years of standing beside Hadrian's Wall, Fox chooses to focus on the positives. Her verse dwells on historical figures connected to Sycamore Gap, from archaeologists to Pagan Gods, but also everyday people as well. So many have visited this tree in its lifetime, bringing their bold romantic gestures and peaceful moments to it. Though humanity has definitely taken this tree and its fellows for granted, at least we have shared some of our love with it.
As well as an ongoing narrative poem, Fox employs other forms such as haiku and palindromic poetry to encompass her feelings about Sycamore Gap tree's legacy. While scansion and word choice occasionally brought me out of it, I found this a delightful ode to an arboreal marvel.
If you have ever visited this famous tree or just wish that you did, I can heartily recommend seeking out a copy of On Sycamore Gap.
January 4, 2025
"Even as Gap/rather than Sycamore/it is somehow as present/as it was before..."
A touching, accessible volume of poetry that explores the history, felling, and future of the Sycamore Gap tree with unpretentious elegance. While I occasionally found the poems in quatrains to be metrically clunky, Fox's other pieces, told in free verse or haiku, are sensitively written—I particularly enjoyed one poem composed as a palindrome, to be read from beginning to end and vice versa, a form which potently captures Fox's themes of ecology and renewal.
A touching, accessible volume of poetry that explores the history, felling, and future of the Sycamore Gap tree with unpretentious elegance. While I occasionally found the poems in quatrains to be metrically clunky, Fox's other pieces, told in free verse or haiku, are sensitively written—I particularly enjoyed one poem composed as a palindrome, to be read from beginning to end and vice versa, a form which potently captures Fox's themes of ecology and renewal.
November 14, 2024
"Just close your eyes whenever you need
To summon again those stary nights"
To summon again those stary nights"
November 24, 2024
Fabulous little book of poetry marking the importance of nature and the necessity for humans to nurture it.
March 30, 2025
A poetic rhapsody in blue.
January 14, 2026
A lovely little memorial to the sycamore of the gap.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews