Robin Hood’s famed Sherwood Forest 1,200-year-old oak tree declared dead

Published on

19/06/2026 - 14:28 GMT+2

Sherwood Forest's Major Oak, the legendary ancient tree said to have sheltered Robin Hood, has died.

The tree failed to sprout leaves this spring, prompting the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) to confirm what conservationists had long feared.

Legend holds that the 13th-century outlaw used the oak as a hideout while evading his nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham, stealing from the rich to give to the poor.

No single cause killed it. But the RSPB says decades of strain - drought, climate change, and the weight of millions of visitors - left its root system starved.

"They (trees) go into drought stress. So even a healthy tree would be feeling the pressures of those long prolonged periods of dry. But the Major Oak also has those other complexities with it. So we have seen the sharp vitality to its root system over the last few decades," explains Chloe Ryder, the operations manager of RSPB Sherwood Forest Estates.

Visitors over the past two centuries who viewed the tree's gnarled limbs and sprawling canopy in Nottingham compressed the soil, making it difficult for rain to reach its roots, the RSPB conservation group says.

The forest has been under threat for years and the tree has been rumoured to have died in the past - only to have the group confirm it was still alive. That is no longer the case.

British acting icon Dame Judi, who is a patron and ambassador for the Woodland Trust, said: "The Major Oak has provided inspiration for countless stories, poems, paintings and people for more than 1,000 years - all the while itself teeming with life and providing a home to an enormous range of wildlife."

She added: "I hope everyone who has been inspired by the Major Oak or another ancient tree reaches out to their MP and asks them to improve legal protections for these iconic and vital elements of our national landscape."

But the fascination for the legend of Robin Hood shows no sign of dying. Movie star Hugh Jackman is playing the folk hero in his old age in a dark adaptation of the 17th-century ballad "Robin Hood's Death".

The film, titled The Death of Robin Hood , is directed by Michael Sarnoski and is being released in the United States on 19 June, by A24.

The Major Oak got its name after being mentioned in a book on oaks by Major Hayman Rooke in 1790 that led to the first wave of fans who flocked to the forest. Beyond folklore, the forest's oaks built ships for Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson's Royal Navy and timbered the roof of St Paul's Cathedral.

"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" said Hollie Drake of the RSPB.

Saplings grown from the tree have also been planted around the world.