Major Oak - Definition

It weighs an estimated 23 tons, has a waistline of 33 ft and is about 800-1000 years old.

There are several theories concerning why it became so huge and oddly shaped:

• The Major Oak is, in fact, several trees that fused together when saplings.

• The tree was pollarded, 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 fat.

It took its present name from Maj. Hayman Rooke's description of it in 1790.

The Major Oak is probably the most famous tree in the western world and can be demonstrated with the following cautionary tale:

In 1998 a local Mansfield resident was cautioned by the Nottinghamshire Police for selling alleged Major Oak acorns (including a certificate of authenticity) to unsuspecting Americans via an Internet based mail-order company.

See also

• List of famous trees

External link

• More information about the Major Oak (http://www.eyemead.com/majoroak.htm)