What is Major Oak and why is it famous?
Nottinghamshire's Major Oak tree, seen in Robin Hood, is dead - the RSPB has confirmed
The 1,200 year old Major Oak tree in Sherwood Forest has died, the RSPB has confirmed, with "overtourism" considered among the factors in its demise.
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Hollie Drake, senior site manager at RSPB Sherwood Forest, said the tree’s failure to produce leaves this year was “heartbreaking for everyone”.
“We know the Major Oak will have a lasting legacy, first and foremost because it is so inextricably linked to Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest," she said.
“But beyond its cultural heritage, the Major Oak will continue to provide important habitat for wildlife, reminding us why these remarkable trees are so important and why protecting them for the future matters.”
Major Oak is the second tree with associations to Robin Hood to die in recent memory, with Sycamore Gap - of Prince of Thieves fame - being illegally felled in 2023.
But while two men from Cumbria were jailed for four years and three months for cutting down the Sycamore Gap tree, there was no foul play around the demise of Major Oak.
The perpetrators Adam Carruthers, 33, and Daniel Graham, 39, have since been released early.
Read also: Ancient 'Robin Hood' tree in Sherwood Forest is dead, experts say
What is the Major Oak?
The Major Oak is a significant oak tree in Nottinghamshire's Sherwood Forest and, according to myth, sheltered Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men.
The Woodland Trust named the oak its tree of the year in 2014, it was voted England's Favourite Tree in 2002, and it is situated within a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The Major Oak is thought to be 1,200 years old, which dates it back to before the Norman Conquest.
It continued to grow while other Sherwood oaks were used to raise the roof of St Paul’s Cathedral, fuel the industrial revolution, and build Nelson’s navy.
Since the 1970s it has been fenced off for protection.
Supports for some of its sprawling branches, in place since the early 20th century, are among the “well-intentioned” human interventions that are thought to have contributed to its decline.
It was seen to have died in June 2026 when it did not flower in the spring for the first time.
When was Major Oak tree in Robin Hood?
Major Oak did not feature in Robin and Marian (1976), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), nor Robin Hood (2010), three of the best-known live action adaptations of the legend.
Prince of Thieves did feature Sycamore Gap, which is not in Sherwood Forest, and a logistical gaffe famously showed that Kevin Costner's Robin and his friend Azeem, Morgan Freeman, walk from Dover to Hadrian's Wall, around 560 miles, in one day.
Major Oak was featured in a drawing from a 1886 book, showing Robin Hood and Maid Marian getting married under the tree, and it was also featured on Blue Peter in 1972.
The name Major Oak stuck after the tree was mentioned in a book by Major Hayman Rooke in 1790, which started the first significant waves of tourism to the forest, drawing millions over the next two centuries.
How did the Major Oak die?
The RSPB said the tree had been affected by factors including:
- A century of “well-intentioned” structural intervention,
- Huge numbers of historical visitors around the tree,
- Recent climate change-driven heatwaves and droughts.
The soil around the tree has become heavily compacted from the footfall of millions of visitors in the past, making it harder for rain to penetrate the soil and for the root system to take in the nutrients it needs.
Recent testing has shown the soil to be as solid as concrete in some spots.
These factors have compounded the challenges it would be naturally facing at its age, said scientists who have concluded it has died after it failed to produce any leaves this spring.
"Its decline is a warning – the way we treat ancient trees today will shape whether they survive for future generations," Ed Pyne of the Woodland Trust said.