That age would mean the oak was already mature when Shakespeare is presumed to have visited Perthshire in 1589, according to Wikipedia. The forest in the play is dramatic fiction, in which a moving wood fulfils a prophecy, and the real oak cannot be a Macbeth-era survivor. It is included as the site where the literary story is told locally.
Folklore & legend
The Birnam Oak and Birnam Wood
Birnam Oak, south bank of the River Tay near Birnam
Tree about 600 years old; play about 1606
- Evidence
- Dubious
- Access
- Open ground
- Location
- 56.558, -3.576 (Parish-level only, treat as an area)
Sources: Wikipedia, Birnam Oak [other]
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