Nottinghamshire County Council needs your photos of Sherwood Forest! To kick off the public appeal, this image of Nottinghamshire’s world-famous Major Oak captured on a stereoscopic camera in 1860 is one of the earliest in existence of the ancient tree.

A man peers out of the main trunk of the tree – said to have been the historic hideout of Robin Hood and his Merry Men in medieval times.

The image, courtesy of Nottinghamshire County Council and the bygones photographic website Picture The Past, shows the tree decades before any support posts were introduced.

The county council is appealing for photographs from people locally, nationally and globally of the Major Oak and across Sherwood Forest to contribute to a Sherwood Memories exhibition in December celebrating 60 years since the forest was granted Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) status.

Nottinghamshire County Council rangers already have a number of other interesting images for the forthcoming exhibition being organised in partnership with The Sherwood Forest Trust which include:

• 1900s – workmen putting up metal banding, the first of the early structure supports for the tree
• 1920s – tourist parties to Sherwood people with people from all backgrounds posing in the country park
• 2012 – images from when the London 2012 Olympic Flame visited Sherwood Forest as part of its tour of England
• 2013 – the Monk in the Trunk image – Sherwood’s Assistant Site manager Paul Cook captured a snow covered shot of the ancient oak which appeared to show an outline of a monk crouched in the trunk – could it have been Friar Tuck?!

Councillor John Knight, Committee Chairman for Culture, at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “The stereoscopic image is particularly interesting as it is one of the earliest photographs we have on record of the Major Oak and we hope it can help inspire people to look back through photographs they have of visits to Sherwood Forest which they will be happy to share as part of this important exhibition. This is an important year of celebration for Sherwood Forest.”

The Major Oak weighs around 23 tonnes, has a girth of ten metres and a spread of 28 metres and is one of the biggest Oak Trees in England. On Sunday, October 26, the country park will hold its annual Seed Hunt Sunday event, with two guided walks, one from 11.30am to 1pm and the other from 2pm to 3.30pm.

As part of Seed Hunt Sunday, looking at the ancient oak trees, as part of the Walking with Giants trail, visitors will get to stop and collect the acorns from some of Sherwood’s amazing and magical ancient oak trees along the way. The walk ends up at the Major Oak for a close up look at the Major Oak.

Visitors will then get to learn how to grow the acorns at home and then bring the sapling back in a couple of years’ time for replanting in the wider Sherwood area.

People are being invited to send any old images of Sherwood Forest country park, to county council Site Warden, Charleen Case, by November 21 via post or email to [email protected]. Attachments should be no larger than 5MB. They will be displayed as part of the Sherwood Memories exhibition in the Oak Room at Sherwood Forest country park, on December 5, 6 and 7.