{{Short description|English television presenter (born 1976)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Use British English|date=November 2013}} {{Infobox person | name = Major Hayman Rooke | image = The Major Oak - geograph.org.uk - 1691865.jpg | caption = Major Oak | birth_date = 20 February 1723 | death_date = 18 September 1806 | birth_place = City of Westminster, England | occupation = Former British Soldier and Antiquarian }}
Major '''Hayman Rooke''' (1723–1806) was an English antiquarian and British Army soldier who discovered the Major Oak tree in Sherwood Forest and two Roman Villas near Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire. The Major Oak is named after him.<ref> Robert White, Worksop, The Dukery, and Sherwood Forest, (1875)|retrieved on 3 May 2025</ref>
==Biography== Hayman Rooke was born on 20 February 1723 and baptised at St Martin-in-the-Fields in City of Westminster on 19 March of the same year.<ref name="day">[http://www.majoroak.org.uk/main/february20th.htm Major Oak Day], accessed October 2011</ref>
After a modest military career, in which he achieved the rank of major in the 30th Regiment of Foot, Hayman Rooke retired to Mansfield Woodhouse in Nottinghamshire and turned himself into an antiquary. He is particularly associated with Roman finds around Mansfield Woodhouse, but he was a pioneer archaeologist within the county of Nottinghamshire. Despite having no formal training, he was well versed in a range of archaeological fields, and a frequent contributor to the journal ''Archaeologia'' between 1776 and 1796. He wrote about the Romans as well as writing about medieval churches and local great estates such as Welbeck, Bolsover, Haddon Hall and Thoresby.<ref>Cite Web: https://visitsherwood.co.uk/celebrating-the-man-who-made-the-major-oak/|Visit Sherwood Forest|THE MAN WHO ‘MADE’ THE MAJOR OAK|2023|retrieved on 3 May 2025</ref>
thumb|An oak tree discovered by Hayman Rooke
Hayman Rooke died on 18 September 1806 and is buried in the chancel of the Church of St Edmund, Mansfield Woodhouse.<ref name="day"/> The Major Oak is named in his honour and in recognition of his writings and love of Sherwood Forest.
[[File:Trees called The Porters by Hayman Rooke 1790.jpg|thumb|"Two large trees in Welbeck Park called the Porters" by Hayman Rooke, engraved by W. Ellis, 1790]]
Hayman Rooke was a magistrate and deputy lieutenant for Nottinghamshire. His former residence, ''Woodhouse Place'' in Mansfield Woodhouse received a blue plaque in 2015.<ref>The Major Oak man gets dedicated plaque, ''Chad'' (Mansfield local newspaper), 4 November 2015, p.23. Accessed 12 October 2020</ref>
thumb|Woodhouse Place, the former home of Hayman Rooke with the blue plaque to the right hand side
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Hayman Rooke}} [http://www.majoroak.org.uk/main/february20th.htm Hayman Rooke and Major Oak Day]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rooke, Hayman}} Category:1723 births Category:1806 deaths Category:18th-century English people Category:People from Westminster Category:English antiquarians Category:30th Regiment of Foot officers Category:People from Mansfield Woodhouse Category:18th-century British Army personnel