The Major Oak, a tree in Britain’s Sherwood Forest believed to have sheltered the legendary bandit Robin Hood, was declared dead Thursday.
The tree, thought to be upward of 1,200 years old, is located in the Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve, 125 miles northwest of London.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which governs the reserve, said Thursday that the tree failed to grow new leaves this spring and is therefore believed to be dead.
Legend states that Robin Hood and his merry men used the trunk of the Major Oak to hide from the sheriff of Nottingham, according to the Sherwood Forest website.
The tree showed signs of decline in recent years. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said poor soil quality and a weak root system played a part in its death, as did droughts and heat waves.
Human visitors, the charity said, trod on and tamped down the soil, which made it harder for the tree to get needed water, oxygen and nutrients.
In addition, officials said measures taken to support the tree, including propping it up, adding a metal brace and laying concrete, “prevented it from aging naturally and in fact created added challenges to its survival.”
The tree will be kept up and allowed to decay, giving other parts of the Sherwood Forest ecosystem a habitat in the dead wood and slowly allowing its nutrients to be absorbed into the soil through the process of decomposition, the charity said.
The tree’s lineage also lives on, officials said. Acorns and cuttings taken from the Major Oak have grown into saplings planted around the world.
“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,” Hollie Drake, the senior site manager for Sherwood Forest, said in the charity’s release.
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