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

An image from the 1910 card game "The Counties of England - A Geographical Game: 4th Series" depicts Robin Hood with a bow and arrow. The Print Collector/Heritage Images/Getty Images via CNN Newsource

London — When knights of old went looking for Robin Hood, they 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 hideout: the Major Oak.

Scientists now believe this 1,200-year-old oak tree has died after it failed to produce any new leaves this spring, British conservation body the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said in a news release.

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

A combination of soil compression around the tree and hot, dry summers led to the tree’s decline, the RSPB said.

Simon Parfey, the managing director of soil microbiology firm SoilBioLab, who was part of the team caring for the tree, said in the press release: “While the Major Oak team worked tirelessly to revive the environment around this iconic tree — and saw encouraging signs of life in some areas — the damage, it now seems, was already too deeply entrenched to fully reverse.”

The Major Oak became famous as a tourist attraction thanks to its connection to Robin Hood. However, the resulting millions of visitors led to the soil around the tree becoming as solid as concrete, the RSPB said in the release.

“It has seen an enormous amount of activity,” Chloe Ryder, the RSPB’s estate operations manager at Sherwood Forest, told CNN.

“The most recent decline has corresponded with five very hot and droughty summers, most notably in July 2022 when the U.K. experienced record temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius,” Reg Harris, who is the director of arboriculture at tree surgery firm Urban Forestry and has been monitoring the tree, said in the release.

Tree will remain standing

Sherwood Forest, near Nottingham, in central England, is the traditional hideout of Robin Hood, a legendary outlaw who stole from the rich to give to the poor, while living in the forest to evade his nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham.

References to Robin Hood first began appearing in the 14th century, and over the centuries that followed he has been portrayed in books, films and TV shows.

But while the Major Oak has come to be associated with the legend, “in terms of the earliest surviving medieval stories of Robin Hood, there are no specific mentions of the oak tree,” Alex Brown, an associate professor of history at Durham University, England, told CNN in an email.

However, the early stories do refer to Hood and his outlaws 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 would have been associated with a distinctive tree within the Forest from a very early stage in the legend,” he said.

Although it is no longer alive, the mighty tree will remain where it has stood for more than a millennium.

Hollie Drake, senior site manager at RSPB Sherwood Forest, said in the release: “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 continuing to provide as much support to the forest’s ecosystem in death as in life.”

Acorns and cuttings from the tree have previously been grown into saplings, which have been planted around the world, including in Winfield House, the residence of the U.S. ambassador in London.

Ryder said that with proper care, the Major Oak could remain standing for “decades, even centuries.”