Heartwood by Shona Branigan: An artistic response to the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree

Individually themed, named and coloured, the giant tree prints, created by printmaker Shona Branigan, show every tree ring groove and detail from the cross-section of the almost heart shaped trunk of the 200-year-old tree. The work is displayed along the Kitchen Passage on the route to the West Wing, creating a quiet moment of reflection alongside views out to the Hall’s formal gardens.

Heartwood captures the spirit of the Sycamore Gap tree through five prints taken from a disc of its felled trunk, revealing the intricate rings that once shaped this natural landmark. Named for the heart-shaped form of the trunk, each print expresses a different facet of the tree’s legacy through distinct colourways and techniques—Knowledge in gold, Spirituality in luminous blues, Landscape in earthy umbers and greens, History in the reds and yellows of regional heritage, and Access, a tactile blind embossing inviting visitors to feel the grooves of the wood. Together, these prints honour the tree’s cultural, historical and emotional significance, offering a contemplative space where people can reconnect with a landscape and symbol now held in collective memory. You are invited to touch the accompanying disc of the felled tree.