Image ID: 21858

Parliament Oak

Sherwood Forest
Edwinstowe
England

So called because Edward I is said to have held parliament beneath its branches in 1290. In time the oak rotted, but a new shoot sprouted within the old trunk and the two remain, gripped by iron railings. The picture also remnants of Sherwood Forest which surrounds The Parliament Oak. Popular legend has it that Robin Hood lived in Sherwood Forest. Some say Robin Hood's headquarters was a tree, while others say a cave. One of Robin's legendary headquarters still stands, even if somewhat battered by time and vandalism, the Major Oak. It's said that Robin and his men used to hide in this hollow oak tree, or perhaps stored their treasure there. In truth while the Major Oak is over a thousand years old, it's too young a tree to be Robin Hood's home, but Sherwood has had many oak trees over the centuries. Still it's nice to imagine his home looking something like this. As a royal forest, many kings have hunted in Sherwood; King Richard I, King (the monarch formerly known as Prince) John, Kings Edward I, II and III, just to name some of the kings whose visits to Sherwood are documented in both Robin Hood stories and historical records. King John was on his way to his favourite hunting grounds, Clipstone in Sherwood, when he died in 1216. (You can still visit the ruins of this lodge.) Sherwood literally meant 'Shire Wood', and in the Middle Ages, Sherwood did cover much of Nottinghamshire, extending beyond into Yorkshire and Derbyshire. Some of the trees in Sherwood included oaks like the Major Oak, beech and silver birch trees, and the area around Sherwood also contained areas of heathland, particularly where the soil was sandy, due to the underlying Bunter sandstone rock. The defining characteristic of a forest is that it was governed by forest laws. There would have been many poachers and outlaws like Robin Hood, and Sherwood was patrolled by foresters who would mete out swift justice to those who broke the forest laws by such acts as killing the king's deer. Today most of vast spread of medieval hunting forest is gone. Sherwood Forest exists today mainly around Sherwood Forest Country Park, centering on the Major Oak at Edwinstowe, with pockets of woodland ranging from Papplewick in the SW up to Clipstone and beyond.

Date: 1905

Organisation Reference: NCCW001198

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