As soon as Ian Sproat heard the news, he hurried to the place where the tree used to stand. "I was gobsmacked," he said: "anger set in, and now sadness. My heart was ripped out."

Until last week, the tree stood beside Hadrian's WallA 73-mile stone wall that crosses from the west to the east of the UK. It was built during the Roman Empire. in a dip between two hills - a place named Sycamore Gap in its honour. Its dramatic silhouette drew people from all over Britain.

Two people have been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage: a man of 60 and a boy of 16.

Some people say that the stump should be left to grow new shoots. Others believe that it could be replaced by a sycamore which has already grown to a good size.

But according to a Woodland Trust expert, Mark Feather, "Once a tree of this age has gone, the sad truth is you can't replace them within any visible timeframe. It takes centuries."

The Observer suggested that the gap should be left empty as "both memorial and rallying cry." The paper quoted WH AudenA British-American poet, born in 1907. 's belief that "A culture is no better than its woods."

In Ancient Greece, trees were thought to have divine souls, in the form of spirits called dryads. The Roman statesman Cato the Elder gave orders that no tree should be cut down without a sacrifice to the gods.

Writing in The Edge, Jaap van Etten argues that some souls choose to inhabit trees rather than human bodies.

AristotleA student of Plato, tutor to Alexander the Great and the father of political philosophy. suggested that trees have "vegetal" souls, different from human ones. HinduismAn Indian religion or way of life. Hinduism has 1.2 billion followers, or 15% of all people worldwide. holds that all living organisms have souls.

Scientists have recently concluded that trees can communicate with each other, thanks to a network of fungi.

As Robert Macfarlane explains in The New Yorker, "These fungi send out gossamerFine cobwebs floating in the air. -fine fungal tubes called hyphae, which infiltrate the soil and weave into the tips of plant roots at a cellular level." The result has become known as "the Wood Wide Web."

Yes: As Jaap van Etten argues, "They and humanity each represent the apex of a particular form of life... It is no accident that BuddhaThe founder of Buddhism. Born Gauthama Siddhartha in Nepal in around 563BC, he left his princely family to seek wisdom. is said to have found enlightenment under a tree."

No: This is a completely crazy idea which has as little place in our scientific age as the Greek and Roman myths. It is debatable whether humans have souls; there is no reason to believe plants do.

Or... The Wood Wide Web is evidence that everything in creation is connected. Whether or not there is such a thing as a soul, trees are part of a greater consciousness, just as we are.