Was Robin Hood from Sherwood Forest (Nottinghamshire) or Doncaster (Yorkshire)?

I would value your views on this subject...

I've got a fiver standing on this (a bet with my dad!!!)

Thanks

Loads of stuff here about Robin Hood

But the short answer is that nobody knows, so your fiver and your dad's fiver are both safe


Robin Hood - fact or fiction (http://www.robinhood.info/robinhood/factorfiction.html)

Originally posted by Shelley1650
Was Robin Hood from Sherwood Forest (Nottinghamshire) or Doncaster (Yorkshire)?



Neither !
He was from Sheffield - Loxley to be precise.:thumbsup:

I heard he was an amalgamation of two other 'legends' - the robin of loxley (a lord's son who rebelled against the upper classes) and a peasant outlaw from hereford who just got mixed up with the story at a later date... Can't remember where I heard it from though... D'oh!

I always thought he was from Locksley - which is an hamlet near Doncaster. Little John is buried in Hathersage cemetery but at the time of his living Sherwood Forest stretched from Wycombe to Harrogate so its a fair area to cover.

I read somewhere that he was from Loxley and it said that he resided at Loxley Castle. Anyway, those damn Nottinghamshire people claiming fame to someone from Sheffield.

There was a programme about this a few weeks back with Tony Robinson. I only caught a bit of it, but he was saying that whilst it has traditionally been assumed that he was from Loxley near Sheffield, there is now some evidence that he could have been from a Loxley in Warwickshire. That's all I can remember, sorry.

When in doubt, start a Google Fight (http://www.googlefight.com/cgi-bin/compare.pl?q1=Robin+Hood+was+from+Yorkshire&q2=Robin+Hood+was+from+Nottinghamshire&B1=Make+a+fight%21&compare=1&langue=us).

I've been past the church where Robin Hood and Maid Marion were supposed to have got married, which is in Nottinghamshire i think....

Also, i remember hearing or seeing something saying that scientists studying dendrechronology (if that's what it's called) said that the Major Oak wouldn't have been big enough or even there at the time Robin Hood was alive.

Coming from near Sherwood Forest, I don't know the full story...

Thanks for helping

xx

I always thought that he was from America - he always has an American accent .... Dohhh :D

Originally posted by Tony
I always thought that he was from America - he always has an American accent .... Dohhh :D While'st on the subject of Robin Hood he married Maid marian at St Marys church in Edwinstowe.
Regarding Little Johns grave in Hathersage it is said that the grave is empty and was a decoy to keep away grave robbers from his actuall grave.

Search is great.....

I'm bringing this back up as I saw yet again the argument between MP's over where Robin Hood came from.
John Mann the Bassetlaw MP started it up that Robin wasn't from Yorkshire and took it to Parliment, whilst there he also asked for the archery to be held at Sherwood forest should England get the olympics.
Wherever he came from people will still flock to the alrady established sites of his life, but I guess MP's just like to have their schoolyard squabbles.

Originally posted by Tony
I always thought that he was from America - he always has an American accent .... Dohhh :D

That's only in the films ya daft bat! :D

I though he was a peasant from Wakefield?

That's what i always was told anyway.

Wilf

Plain truth of the matter is that there was no one person to whom the legend of "Robin Hood" can be attributed. The first recorded use of the name that survives is a fragment of a play know as "Robin Hood and the Monk" and that was written circa 1450. When you consider the fact that the legend is usually placed around the reign of Edward II, then you have a good few hundred years for the details to get a little blurry.

To begin with, when the tale was told in alehouses to the peasants of the day, Robin was a wronged commoner rebelling against his lord in order to get the audience on side. Later on when his story was printed and the wealthy could buy and read it, he became the son of a nobleman deprived of his lands who became a chivalrous outlaw.

The actual name "Robinhood" has been found all over the country and seems to have become a nickname that criminals adopted as a badge of honour. All the legends that link the actual Robin Hood to one place or another are just for the sake of local colour at the end of the day as they are dealing with a fictional character rather than a real person.

Oh... let Nottingham have him.
They've got nothing else to show off about have they.

there's a bloke that goes in the sherwood at Birley, that after a few pints thinks he's robbin hood......and he'll fight you to prove it :-P

Did the author of this thread know something we didn't?

Originally posted by jackthedog
Oh... let Nottingham have him.
They've got nothing else to show off about have they.

They poached an airport, I guess they could brag about that!

And their trams are newer than ours!

ROBIN Hood - did he come from Yorkshire or Nottinghamshire?
It's something historians and others living in both places have been arguing about for years.

More recently a decision to name the new Doncaster-Sheffield airport after him really put the cat amongst the pigeons.
But now it seems the matter could be resolved once and for all.
And it's something which is being left to the dogs.
For two consecutive Sundays the shires will go head to head pitching their best greyhounds against each other with the winning track taking the mantle of Robin Hood's true county.
The event will be staged in Nottingham tomorrow, and then next Sunday the greyhounds will fight it out in Sheffield.
In the white corner is Yorkshire, represented by Sheffield Greyhound Stadium.
They claim history confirms Britain's most famous outlaw "was born and lived" in the white rose county.
This is something, says Sheffield Greyhound Stadium Marketing Manager Dave Hackett, that those in Nottingham seem to overlook.
He said: "They have rewritten the history books and wiped Yorkshire's name from it.
"Robin Hood is as much to do with Nottingham as Coronation Street is to do with Liverpool."
Dave is so confident Yorkshire will win The County of Origin Trophy he has vowed to parade down Maid Marian Way in Nottingham City centre in his Friar Tuck's outfit if it doesn't.
In the green corner (Lincoln Green of course) is Nottinghamshire, represented by Nottingham Greyhound Stadium.
Track boss Rachel Corden feels she is now cast in the role of Maid Marian defending the honour of Robin Hood and the feelings of many thousands of people in the area.
"When Yorkshire issued this challenge I felt the track had to respond to defend the only recognised Robin Hood County," she said.
"Dave Hackett wants to go back to school and learn his facts. Robin Hood made his name in our area in Sherwood Forest, tormenting The Sheriff of Nottingham. Robin Hood without Nottingham would be like peaches without cream," she added.
Barbara Green, of The Yorkshire Robin Hood Society, has done years of research on the subject and she is firmly behind the white rose county's claims
"Most Robin Hood historians now recognise that Robin may well have been a Yorkshireman who was born in Wakefield, lived in Barnsdale Forest and died at Kirklees Priory.
"Today most people would say Sherwood Forest was the site but to present this as historical evidence is absurd."
Do you think Robin Hood was from Yorkshire? Email starletters@sheffieldnewspapers.co.uk or write to The Star, Letters Page, York Street, Sheffield S1 1PU.

Robin Hood factfile
Stories of Robin Hood have been told and re-told for more than 700 years.
As each tale is handed down alterations have taken place.
In the early tales, Robin is portrayed as a yeoman who lived in Barnsdale Forest, not Sherwood.
Barnsdale Forest covered 30 square miles about eight miles north-west of Doncaster.
In 1598, in a play for aristocratic audiences, Robin was transformed into Robert the Earl of Huntingdon, with his birthplace Loxley, near Sheffield.
Robin's greatest friend Little John was born and died in Hathersage. His grave can be found in St Michael's Churchyard.
Robin Hood's Bay near Whitby is where he is said to have gone fishing and to have stored boats whenever it was necessary to flee by sea.


from: http://www.sheffieldtoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=58&ArticleID=1001310

'Steals from the poor, gives to the rich, silly bitch!'

The Encyclopedia Britannica says, "The authentic Robin Hood ballads were the poetic expression of popular aspirations in the north of England during a turbulent era of baronial rebellions and agrarian discontent. This culminated in the Peasants` Revolt of 1381 and the theme of the free but persecuted outlaw enjoying the forbidden hunting of the forest and outwitting or killing the forces of law and order naturally appealed to the common people."

In the Public Records Office at Kew, there is a pardon for the outlaw Robin Hood who took part in the Peasant's Revolt. He was also known as Robert Dore of Wadsley. The Wadsley family held Loxley Common and Loxley Chase.

Just thought it might add substance to the debate?

Graham.

And another little know fact Robinh Hood Was Gay! (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=robin+hood+was+gay&btnG=Search&meta=cr%3DcountryUK%7CcountryGB)

I presume you are talking about the word merrie which people take to mean gay, except it comes from the Anglo-Saxon, “mœra” meaning famous, illustrious, great, mighty, etc.

Graham.

Does it really matter - the point is he is English. Perhaps the only hero we have left. Him and Benny Hill ;)

You watch - the french will be saying he's theirs next.

Dragon

Originally posted by Grahame
I presume you are talking about the word merrie which people take to mean gay, except it comes from the Anglo-Saxon, “mœra” meaning famous, illustrious, great, mighty, etc.

Graham.

No mate I'm talking about him being a ****

Well Dragon, it could be possible he had family in Normandy due to the Norman Conquest?

But anyway Nottingham people seem to think it matters where Robin Hood came from although what they don't seem to realise is that it was the sheriff who came from Nottingham. They have it the wrong way round.

Robin of Loxley and the Sheriff of Nottingham.

So Shelley you may owe your dad a fiver, or the other way round?

Regards

Graham.

Originally posted by Grahame
But anyway Nottingham people seem to think it matters where Robin Hood came from although what they don't seem to realise is that it was the sheriff who came from Nottingham.

Exactly! Nottingham is famous as where the bad guy came from!

Actually according to a friend of a friend of a friend,

Robin Hood is from top of heeley bottom, but i always thought he lived in Hope, and died in Hathersage :loopy:


I'll get me coat.

We all live in Hope and Little John is said to be burried at Hathersage although I always thought the saying was “Live in Hope and die in Castleton?”

You mentioned Heely and that was in Derbyshire and the Sheriff of Nottingham was also the Sheriff of Derbyshire, so you weren't that far wrong.

But seriously, did you know that William Peveril who built Peveril Castle at Castleton was the Sheriff of Nottingham, and it isn't that far to Hathersage and Loxley from Castleton?

Outlaw Country. Hey ho.

Regards

Graham.

I don't know where he's from but I know he had a wazz against a tree on Hadrian's Wall!




Happy Days!

You aren't taking this seriously are you? That was Little John who had a wazz against Hadrians Wall.

The antiquarian Roger Dodsworth in 1620 wrote, “Robin Locksley, born in Bradfield parish of Hallamshire, wounded his stepfather to death at plough, fled into the woods and was relieved by his mother till he was discovered. Then he came to Clifton upon Calder, and became acquainted with Little John, that kept the kine. Which said John is buried at Hathersage in Derbyshire. Little John was Earl Huntley’s son. Afterwards he joined with Much the Millar’s son.”

Huntlie was in the former county of Berwick, which is now part of the Borders region and the castle had been destroyed. The old place of Huntly has become lost and the modern town of Huntly near Aberdeen was named after the old borders place. The town seal depicts the old castle and the motto on the seal is “Wile dulci.”

Huntlie isn't far from Hadrians Wall. Have you got it now?

Originally posted by mikey
Neither !
He was from Sheffield - Loxley to be precise.:thumbsup:
Yup,from Loxley I read, so technically Sheffield!

I thought he was american.

He had an american accent in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves!!

Definitely from Loxley. Always getting "merrie" in the Admiral Rodney I hear.:hihi: No he wasn't a p**f, they wern't invented then.:P