Major Oak
Encyclopedia
Oak Tree
Oak Tree may refer to:*Oak, the tree*Oak Tree, County Durham, a village in County Durham, England*The Oaktree Foundation, a youth-run aid and development agency*Oak Tree National, golf club in Edmond, Oklahoma...
near the village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
of Edwinstowe
Edwinstowe
Edwinstowe is a village in the heart of Sherwood Forest, north Nottinghamshire, England.Its name means Edwin's resting place because King Edwin of Northumbria's body was hidden in the church after he was killed in the Battle of Hatfield Chase, near Doncaster, probably in 633. References to...
in the heart of Sherwood Forest
Sherwood Forest
Sherwood Forest is a Royal Forest in Nottinghamshire, England, that is famous through its historical association with the legend of Robin Hood. Continuously forested since the end of the Ice Age, Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve today encompasses 423 hectares surrounding the village of...
, Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. According to local folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
, it was Robin Hood
Robin Hood
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
's shelter where he and his merry men slept. It weighs an estimated 23 tons, has a girth of 33 feet (10 metres), and is about 800–1000 years old. In June 2002, the Tree Council designated the Major Oak one of fifty Great British Trees in recognition of its place in the national heritage.
History
It took its present name from Major Hayman RookeHayman Rooke
Major Hayman Rooke became an antiquary on his retirement from the Army. The Major Oak is named after him.-Biography:Rooke was born on the 20th February 1723. After a modest military career, in which he achieved the rank of major, Major Rooke retired to Mansfield Woodhouse in Nottinghamshire and...
's description of it in 1790.
There are several theories concerning why it became so huge and oddly shaped:
- The Major Oak may be several trees that fused together when saplings.
- The tree was possibly pollardedPollardingPollarding is a pruning system in which the upper branches of a tree are removed, promoting a dense head of foliage and branches. It has been common in Great Britain and Europe since medieval times and is practiced today in urban areas worldwide, primarily to maintain trees at a predetermined...
, a system of tree management that enabled foresters to grow more than one crop of timber from a single tree causing the trunk to grow large and thick. However, there is only limited evidence to support this theory as none of the other trees in the surrounding area were pollarded.
Since the Victorian era its massive limbs have been partially supported by an elaborate system of scaffolding.
In February 1998, a local company took cuttings from the Major Oak and began cultivating clones of the famous tree with the intention of sending saplings to be planted in major cities around the world. Also in 1998, a Mansfield
Mansfield
Mansfield is a town in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the main town in the Mansfield local government district. Mansfield is a part of the Mansfield Urban Area....
resident was cautioned by the Nottinghamshire Police
Nottinghamshire Police
Nottinghamshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the shire county of Nottinghamshire and the unitary authority of Nottingham in the East Midlands of England. The area has a population of just over 1 million....
for selling alleged Major Oak acorns (including a certificate of authenticity) to unsuspecting Americans
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
via an Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
-based mail-order company. On October 1, 2002, another news story broke about someone illegally selling acorns from the Major Oak on an Internet-based auction website.
In 2003, in Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
a plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
was started of 260 saplings
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
grown from acorn
Acorn
The acorn, or oak nut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives . It usually contains a single seed , enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule. Acorns vary from 1–6 cm long and 0.8–4 cm broad...
s of the Major Oak. The purpose was to provide a focal point for an Internet-based study of the Major Oak, its history, photographic record, variation in size and leafing of the saplings, comparison of their DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
, and an eventual public amenity.
The Major Oak was featured on the 2005
2005 in television
The year 2005 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 2005.For the American TV schedule, see: 2005–06 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-Miniseries:...
television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
me Seven Natural Wonders as one of the wonders of the Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
.