Sherwood+Forest

Nottingham is home to one of the most well-known forests in the world, Sherwood Forest. Sherwood was first recorded around 958 A.D. and means the woodland belonging to the Shire. It was a royal hunting forest, and was used for gathering. King John and Edward I are known to have hunted there. The ruins of their hunting cabin have lasted through the years and can still be seen today. In the 1200s (well-known as the time of Robin Hood) this great forest covered a vast area of land, nearly 100,000 acres, or one fifth of Nottinghamshire. The forest had its own special set of royal laws, they protected the lumber and animals in the forest. This helped preserve valuable resources such as game and gathering food. People living outside the forest were considered “outlaws." The main road traveling through this forest was connecting London to York and often known to have been crawling with outlaws This great forest is well known for the famous Major Oak. It is about a ten to fifteen minute walk through the forest. It is Quercus Robur or pendunculate oak and is about eight hundred years old. This massive beast weighs about 23 tonnes or 50,705.8 pounds (1 tonnes = 2,204.6 pounds). The circumference of this trunk is 33 feet, the branches span to 92 feet. The name of this great tree is Cockpen tree, because the inside is said to have been containing pen cockerels, they were used in the now illegal sport cockfighting. This tree was thought to have been used to hide the great outlaws Robin Hood’s men but according to the times the tree would have been only a small sapling when Robin Hood roamed the forest. This forest has come a long way yet it still survives as a national nature reserve. During the nineteenth and twentieth century this grand forest underwent major changes yet still survives and thrives in the Nottingham area. During the two world wars this park was used for army bases and used for its lumber, they also planted softwood trees. The forest has been protected by England for many years and now has over 1,000 ancient oaks.

By: Madelyn Rogge, Tricia Rogge