‘Most famous tree in the world’: Sherwood Forest’s 1,000-year-old Major oak dies

Rob Brackley, an outdoor education tutor dressed as Robin Hood, at the Major oak tree in Sherwood Forest, which this year has not come into leaf. Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Rob Brackley, an outdoor education tutor dressed as Robin Hood, at the Major oak tree in Sherwood Forest, which this year has not come into leaf. Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Guardian ‘Most famous tree in the world’: Sherwood Forest’s 1,000-year-old Major oak dies Nottinghamshire tree, one of Europe’s oldest and largest, fails to produce leaves after being stressed by series of hot, dry summers The Major oak, one of Europe’s oldest, largest and most celebrated ancient trees, has died. The huge tree, which has grown in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire , England, for at least 1,000 years, failed to produce any leaves this year, after becoming stressed by a series of hot, dry summers. Thousands of visitors admire the oak each year, with its great age, enormous 11-metre girth and 28-metre canopy inspiring a forest of folklore. Although the oak would not have been hollow in Robin Hood’s day, it was said to have provided a sanctuary for the outlaw and his gang when fleeing the tyrannical Sheriff of Nottingham . View image in fullscreen Major oak, c 1900. Photograph: Heritage Images/Getty Images In the winter of 2010, when snow fell on the tree, it traced an eerily precise image of Friar Tuck on the trunk. In other winters, when snow fell all around, none appeared on the tree’s limbs. But it was recent summers – and human admiration – that probably hastened the natural end of the tree’s long life. Like other ancient oaks, the tree has been repeatedly stressed by the heat and drought of global heating, particularly the heatwave of July 2022 when Britain baked under record 40C temperatures. Robin Hood arrived in an electric van for an impromptu, informal funeral beside the tree after the RSPB, which manages the Sherwood Forest site of special scientific interest (SSSI), announced the tree’s passing. Robert Brackley, an outdoor educator who has shown thousands of schoolchildren the wonders of the Major oak while dressed in authentic outlaw furs with functioning bow and arrow, said: “The stories it has given us is the legacy. It’s the most famous tree in the world. The legend always lives on. I feel sad but it’s a fleeting moment in time. We must remember how it was and be in awe of it today.” Visitors from Spain, Sheffield, the US, South Korea and Australia paused beside the tree to pay their respects. “It’s ginormous!” said Carter Jackson, eight, from Sheffield. “It’s a really beautiful tree and it’s sad it’s died.” View image in fullscreen Props and metal chains were installed in 1904 to support the oak’s branches. Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Guardian Ryan Jackson, his father, added: “It’s a piece of history that’s dying but it was 1,000 years old, you can’t live for ever.” “Poor tree,” said Kirsty Champion from Adelaide. “I always watched