Ancient Sherwood Forest oak tree reputed to have sheltered Robin Hood has died

When the old knights went searching Robin HoodThey knew where to find him. The legendary outlaw has been associated with England’s Sherwood Forest for centuries, and one tree in particular has traditionally been cited as his hiding place: the Major Oak.

Scientists now believe it is 1,200 years old oak tree It died this spring when it failed to produce new leaves, British conservation organization the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said in a news release.

With a canopy spread of 28 meters (92 feet) and a trunk circumference of 11 meters (36 feet), the Major Oak was one of Britain’s largest trees. Supports for some branches were installed in the early 20th century, and the tree was fenced in the 1970s.

The RSPB said a combination of soil compaction around the tree and hot, dry summers had led to its decline.

“While the Major Oak team worked tirelessly to restore the environment around this iconic tree and saw encouraging signs of life in some areas, it appears the damage was already too deeply ingrained to be fully reversed,” Simon Parfey, managing director of soil microbiology firm SoilBioLab, who was part of the team maintaining the tree, said in the press release.

Major Oak became famous as a tourist attraction thanks to its connection with Robin Hood. But the resulting millions of visitors had caused the soil around the tree to become as solid as concrete, the RSPB said in a statement.

“There’s been a tremendous amount of activity,” Chloe Ryder, RSPB’s property operations manager in Sherwood Forest, told CNN.

“The latest decline coincided with five very hot and dry summers, particularly in July 2022, when record temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius were experienced in the UK,” Reg Harris, director of arboriculture at tree surgery firm Urban Forestry, who monitors the tree, said in a statement. he said.

The tree will remain standing

Sherwood Forest, near Nottingham in central England, is the traditional hideout of legendary outlaw Robin Hood, who stole from the rich and gave to the poor while he lived in the woods to escape his enemy, the Sheriff of Nottingham.

References to Robin Hood first began appearing in the 14th century and have been depicted in books, movies and TV shows for centuries to follow.

Although the Major Oak is associated with the legend, “in terms of the earliest surviving medieval stories of Robin Hood, the oak tree is not specifically mentioned,” Alex Brown, a professor of history at Durham University in England, told CNN in an email.

But early stories mention Hood and his bandits having distinctive meeting trees called “trystle trees” where people knew they could find Hood, Brown said.

“It is, of course, possible that this meeting tree was associated with a distinctive tree in the Forest from a very early stage of the legend,” he said.

Although no longer alive, this mighty tree will remain where it stood for over a thousand years.

Hollie Drake, RSPB Sherwood Forest’s senior field manager, said in the statement: “The Major Oak will continue to stand at the heart of Sherwood as a natural monument for visitors to come and see, living on in the legend of Robin Hood and providing support to the forest’s ecosystem in death as well as in life.”

Acorns and tree cuttings were previously turned into saplings and planted around the world, including Winfield House, the residence of the US ambassador in London.

With proper care, Major Oak can survive “decades, even centuries,” Ryder said.

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