LONDON — A huge, centuries-old oak tree linked to the legend of Robin Hood may have been the object of excessive affection that cost it its life.
The Major Oak, a 1,200-year-old oak tree in Sherwood Forest, is believed to have died after failing to leaf out this spring, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said on Thursday.
According to the conservation organisation, visitors to Nottingham over the past two centuries who have seen the tree’s twisted branches and leafy canopy have compacted the soil, making it difficult for rain to reach its roots.
The forest has been under threat for years and, in the past, it had been rumored that the tree had died, but the group confirmed that it was still alive.
“The fact that the tree has not put on leaves this year breaks our hearts all,” Hollie Drake of the RSPB said in a statement announcing his death.
It is said that this tree provided shelter to Robin Hood, the legendary 13th century bandit who stole from the rich to give to the poor and hid in the woods when pursued by the Sheriff of Nottingham.
It received that name after being mentioned in a book about oaks written by Major Hayman Rooke in 1790, which caused the first wave of hobbyists to flock to the forest.
It is impossible to determine what caused the tree’s death, but the footprints of millions of people contributed to its fall, along with measures taken to reinforce its enormous branches with cables and poles. Blame was also placed on climate change, which has caused heat waves and droughts.
Tree experts discovered that the root system was strangled and malnourished.
“Old-year-old trees like the Major Oak are the ‘white rhinos of UK conservation’, but their disappearance is going far more unnoticed,” said Ed Pyne of the Woodland Trust. “Saving them is vital to the health of the world we live in, and yet most disappear quietly, without the recognition or attention given to the Major Oak.”
In addition to its place in folklore, the forest is known for Sherwood oaks, the wood of which was used to build Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson’s Royal Navy ships in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as well as for the roof beams of London’s St Paul’s Cathedral.
The “Major Oak” was saved from the saw and has been protected by a fence since the 1970s.
This story was translated from English to Spanish with an artificial intelligence tool and was reviewed by an editor before publication.