Description:
The Birklands contains the remnants of the once extensive oak forest which once covered much of Sherwood Forest. The most famous of the oaks in the Birklands is the Major Oak.
During the Middle Ages vast areas of England were Royal Forest and came under Forest Law, an additional law applying to those living within its jurisdiction. Originally extremely harsh, Henry III granted in 1217 that a man should no longer lose life or limb for taking the King's deer.
Today most of the 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 southwest up to Clipstone and beyond.