Major Oak

The Major Oak is a large English oak (Quercus robur) near the village of Edwinstowe in the midst of Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, England. According to local folklore, it was Robin Hood's shelter where he and his Merry Men slept. It weighs an estimated 23 tons, has a girth of 33 feet (10 metres), a canopy of 92 feet (28 metres), and is about 800–1,000 years old.^[1][2] The Major Oak sits within a Site of Special Scientific Interest.^[3]

Major Oak
The Major Oak
Species	English oak (Quercus robur)
Location	Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire
Coordinates	53°12′16.70″N 1°4′20.80″W

Toponymy

Major Hayman Rooke, a soldier and antiquarian, describes the Major Oak in his book Description or Sketches of Remarkable Oakes in Welbeck Park in 1790 as "I think no one can behold this majestic ruin without pronouncing it to be of very from it antiquity, and might venture to say, that it cannot be much less than a thousand years old." It is believed that the Major Oak took the name of Major Hayman Rooke.^[4][5][6]

History

Support chains were first fitted to the tree in 1908, and its massive limbs have been partially supported by an elaborate system of scaffolding since the 1970s.^[7] In 1974, fences were installed around the tree to protect it from root damage, since the number of visitors to the tree was compacting the soil around it.^[8]

The formation sign of the 46th Infantry Division of the British Army in the Second World War was the Major Oak.^[9] Among the units of the division were battalions of the Sherwood Foresters regiment.

In a 2002 survey, it was voted "Britain's favourite tree".^[10]

Also in 2002, a person illegally attempted to sell acorns claimed to be from the Major Oak on an internet-based auction website.^[11]

The Major Oak in December 2006

Book illustration of the Major Oak in 1879

In 2003, in Dorset a plantation was started of 260 saplings grown from acorns of the Major Oak.^[6] The purpose was to provide publicity for an internet-based study of the Major Oak, its history, photographic record, variation in size and leafing of the saplings, comparison of their DNA, and an eventual public amenity.^[12]

The Major Oak was featured on the 2005 television programme Seven Natural Wonders as one of the wonders of the Midlands.^[13]

In 2014, it was voted 'England's Tree of the Year' by a public poll by the Woodland Trust, receiving 18% of the votes.^[14][2]

The threat to the Major Oak from fracking is the subject of a song by English musician Beans on Toast on his 2017 album Cushty.^[15]

In July 2020 the tree was reported as vandalised, with a three-foot section of bark fallen off.^[16][17]

The shape of the Major Oak

The Major Oak

It is unclear to whether the Major Oak is one tree or several tree saplings that have been fused together, hence this may give reason to its shape.^[18]

This enormous tree is commonly thought to be the UK's second-largest oak tree, only truly surpassed by the Majesty Oak in Fredville Park, in the village of Nonington, near Dover, Kent.^[19]

See also

• List of individual trees
• List of Great British Trees