Robin Hood is from Loxley, Sheffield, Yorkshire!

[PopT]

I think it has to be accepted that there were more than one Robin Hood stretching over several centuries.

 

Any gangster who carried a scar was named Scarface after Al Capone, it doesn't take much to think this must be the case that any outlaw was named Robin Hood and so the legends and stories have expanded over the centuries.

 

The public love to read or hear about a rogue, you only have to read the postings on the Sheffield gangs and local hardmen.

 

Someone once did a thesis on Robin Hood at Sheffield University and with all the books, documents at his disposal he couldn't come up with one Robin Hood.

 

There used to be an old bow always said to be Robin Hood's longbow hanging up near the altar in Hathersage Church.

 

It was restrung and tried out in the mid 1800's but later was removed from the church and taken to Scotland by the family who owned it.

 

I wonder where it is now?

 

Happy Days!

[DynoDon]

/-\/-\-/=\-/

[Grahame]

I think it has to be accepted that there were more than one Robin Hood stretching over several centuries.

 

Any gangster who carried a scar was named Scarface after Al Capone, it doesn't take much to think this must be the case that any outlaw was named Robin Hood and so the legends and stories have expanded over the centuries.

 

The public love to read or hear about a rogue, you only have to read the postings on the Sheffield gangs and local hardmen.

 

Someone once did a thesis on Robin Hood at Sheffield University and with all the books, documents at his disposal he couldn't come up with one Robin Hood.

 

There used to be an old bow always said to be Robin Hood's longbow hanging up near the altar in Hathersage Church.

 

It was restrung and tried out in the mid 1800's but later was removed from the church and taken to Scotland by the family who owned it.

 

I wonder where it is now?

 

Happy Days!

 

The bow is still with the same Scot family and the pardon for Lord Robert Dore of Wadsley otherwise known as Robin Hood was only found last year in the PRO at Kew by two researchers Marcus and David, congratulation to them both.

 

EDIT

The Bow you mention belonged to John Naylor of Hathersage and is at Cannon Hall, it is not the same bow that went to Scotland.

 

EDIT

Whether Robin Hood was one person or a conglomeration of several is a subject that keeps cropping up and it depends on your point of view. Early mentions of him always speak in the singular and outlaw bands were known by the name of their leader, for example the “Withermen”, the “Coterills” the “Folvills” the “Bradborn gang.” Even the Shefield gangs were known by the name of their leader which brings us to "Robin Hood and his Merry Men" with "Merry" meaning famous.

 

http://www.bartleby.com/81/11340.html

 

http://www.bartleby.com/81/11344.html

 

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[Grahame]

That website in the first post has a few inaccuracies. Barnsdale forest never stretched to Sheffield/Loxley... it started just north of Doncaster and contained villages now in the borough... the actual name Barnsdale was given to the area between Doncaster and Pontefract.

 

Through the centre of it ran the roman-built motorways of the day -what is now the Great North Road from Doncaster to the north and south. Perfect for a days plunder of the rich by our Robin.

 

Barnsdale also stretched to the areas of West Yorkshire that also have a great claim to the mythical hero through virtue of mentions in the stories and various other place names and whatnot, which gives credence that he lived in one or more of the places, myth-wise anyway... particularly with the vast border with Notts in Donny.

 

The airport is pretty much in Notts. Would be interested to see what the difference is now between Sherwood Forest to Robin Hood Airport and to Nottingham and what it would have been back then.

 

Here is a Wikipiedia article about Sheffield and this is what it says about Barnsdale.

 

Ecclesall electoral ward was created 1934 when the old Ecclesall Bierlow ward was divided into Ecclesall, Broomhill and Hallam.

 

The boundaries of the ward include about half of the area that was historically known as Ecclesall Bierlow—one of the six 'townships' that made up the old Parish of Sheffield. Ecclesall Bierlow encompassed most of the land between the River Sheaf and the Porter Brook from The Moor to Ringinglow. It also included the areas of Broomhall and Crookesmoor to the north of Porter Brook. Though this area contained numerous small villages and hamlets, there was never a village called Ecclesall.

 

In ancient times this area was part of the Barnsdale Forest that, together with Sherwood Forest, made up the forest of the Robin Hood legends. The River Sheaf marked the boundary between the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Mercia and Deira (later Northumbria). In fact the earliest historical record of this area refers to the submission of the Northumbrian army to Egbert of Wessex at nearby Dore in 829.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecclesall

 

(There was a continous belt of forest stretching across the backbone of England between Sherwood and Barnsdale. Forest was a legal definition that included scrub-land for example grouse moors, today it has come to mean woodland.)

 

Here is a map showing the county boundary of Nottinghamshire and as you will see it is quite a distance from Barnsdale.

 

http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/KIRK6479/mycustompage0048.htm

 

 

On a point of information the Sheriff of Nottingham had jurisdiction in both Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire and as you may know the Derbyshire boundary was at the “Meersbrook” in Heely, so the sheriff of Nottingham would be active in and around modern day Sheffield.

 

Thanks,

 

Graham.

[sandie]

Robin Hood is a folklore figure and not real history. He may have existed, or maybe not. There are theories that the stories are an amalgamation of tales that could have roots in more than one historical figure.

 

It seems a bit pointless to argue over exactly where he came from using modern administrative boundaries. One thing is for sure, he didn't come from South Yorkshire as it wasn't invented until 1974.

 

Alastair still waiting for you facts that South Yorkshire was only invented in 1974 as a postscript when I was a lad I used to get on the bus which was called South Yorkshire Transport Executive I will agree in the early 70's the boundries were changed.

West/North and East Ridings existed, but in 1969 it was West Yorkshire/North Yorkshire and South Yorkshire.

[PhilipB]

Think JoeP made a telling point earlier.

Most appropriate question is "So what?"

Does it really matter if her was in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire or any other shire?

It's the legend, the aura, the mystique, the possibility that there might, just might, be a bit of credibility to it all.

Leave it to the likes of Errol Flynn, Kevin Costner and the BBC (who filmed the latest TV series in Hungary) to perpetuate the story.

[Grahame]

Think JoeP made a telling point earlier.

Most appropriate question is "So what?"

Does it really matter if her was in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire or any other shire?

It's the legend, the aura, the mystique, the possibility that there might, just might, be a bit of credibility to it all.

Leave it to the likes of Errol Flynn, Kevin Costner and the BBC (who filmed the latest TV series in Hungary) to perpetuate the story.

 

So do you prefer to live in a make belief world?

[PhilipB]

So do you prefer to live in a make belief world?

 

If something can't be proved and this is certainly a prime example, then just where is it?

Opinions on this, such as people are generally bothered, will always differ, neither side being able to prove one way or the other.

 

For over 2,000 years "they've" been trying to prove that there is life after death.

Well, is there?

 

Robin Hood falls into the same category.

 

Oh and the answer to your question is certainly , no. However it is a rather superfluous question considering that Robin Hood is not in my world.

Can you say the same?

[Grahame]

If something can't be proved and this is certainly a prime example, then just where is it?

Opinions on this, such as people are generally bothered, will always differ, neither side being able to prove one way or the other.

 

For over 2,000 years "they've" been trying to prove that there is life after death.

Well, is there?

 

Robin Hood falls into the same category.

 

Oh and the answer to your question is certainly , no. However it is a rather superfluous question considering that Robin Hood is not in my world.

Can you say the same?

 

You ask the question "Who cares?" That is like saying to a footballer, "Who cares about football?" It is just asking for troube.

 

You live in your Hollywood fantasy world if that is what you want to do and leave the real world to the rest of us.

 

For those who doubt Robin Hood was a real person here is an extract from Walter Bower's Scotichronicon of 1440AD.

 

"In that year also the disinherited English barons and those loyal to the king clashed fiercely; amongst them Roger de Mortimer occupied the Welsh Marches and John d’Eyville occupied the Isle of Ely; Robert Hood was an outlaw amongst the woodland briar's and thorns. Between them they inflicted a vast amount of slaughter on the common and ordinary folk, cities and merchants. King Henry, however, along with his son Prince Edward and a huge army also besieged the very well fortified castle of Kenilworth, where almost [May] all the nobles who were rebelling against the king had taken refuge. There the remnants of Simon de Montfort’s following, seeing that the castle with its towers and protecting walls was impregnable, defended themselves steadily with all their might. At length, worn out by lack of food and starvation, they handed over the castle on [Dec] the condition that they keep life and limb."

[PhilipB]

You ask the question "Who cares?"

 

 

 

For those who doubt Robin Hood was a real person here is an extract from Walter Bower's Scotichronicon of 1440AD.

 

QUOTE]

1440 AD eh, well thanks but I'd rather live in the present and leave history where it belongs, in the past.