An ancient oak tree said to have sheltered legendary Robin Hood has died
LONDON (AP) — The massive ancient oak tree linked to the Robin Hood legend may have been loved to death.
The 1,200-year-old Major Oak in Sherwood Forest is believed to have died after failing to produce leaves this spring, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said on Thursday.
The conservation group said visitors to Nottingham who have seen the tree’s gnarled branches and expanding canopy over the past two centuries have compacted the soil around it, making it harder for rain to reach its roots.
The forest had been threatened for years and the tree was said to have died out in the past; however, the group confirmed that the tree was still alive.
This is no longer the case.
“It is heartbreaking for everyone that the tree has failed to produce leaves this year,” the RSPB’s Hollie Drake said in a statement announcing the death.
The tree is said to house Robin Hood, the legendary 13th-century bandit who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, and took refuge in the woods when pursued by the sheriff of Nottingham.
It got its name from a mention in a book on oaks written by Major Hayman Rooke in 1790, which led to the first wave of admirers flocking to the forest.
It’s impossible to say what killed the tree, but the footprints of millions of people contributed to its fall, along with the intervention of supporting its massive limbs using cables and poles. Climate change, which has led to heat waves and droughts, has also been blamed.
Arborists found that the root system was strangled and starving.
“Old trees such as the Major Oak are the ‘conservation white rhinos of the UK’, but their decline is much less visible,” said Ed Pyne of the Woodland Trust. “Saving them is vital to the health of the world we live in, but many quietly disappear without the recognition or care of Major Oak.”
Besides its place in folklore, the forest is also known for its Sherwood oaks, which sailed Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson’s Royal Navy ships in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and St. It is known for the timbers on the roof of St. Paul’s Cathedral.
The Major Oak survived the sawing and has been protected by fencing since the 1970s.
“Major Oak will continue to stand at the heart of Sherwood as a natural monument for visitors to come and visit, living the Robin Hood legend and supporting the forest’s ecosystem in death as well as in life,” Drake said.
