SHERWOOD,
NOTTINGHAM AND BARNSDALE
Popular
legend has it that Robin Hood lives in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire.
 Some
say Robin Hood's headquarters is a tree. Others say a cave. One of Robin's
legendary headquarters still stands, even if somewhat battered by time
and vandalism, the Major Oak. It's said that Robin and his men used to
hide in this hollow oak tree, or perhaps stored their treasure there. In
truth while the Major Oak is over a thousand years old, it's too young
a tree to be Robin Hood's home, but Sherwood has had many oak trees over
the centuries. Still it's nice to imagine his home looking something like
this.
Many
guests of Robin Hood have wandered into Sherwood. None more famous than
the King of England himself. As a royal forest, many kings have hunted
in Sherwood -- King Richard I, King (the monarch formerly known as Prince)
John, Kings Edward I, II and III, just to name some of the kings whose
visits to Sherwood are documented in both Robin Hood stories and historical
records. King John's favourite hunting grounds was Clipstone
in Sherwood, when he died in 1216. You can still visit the ruins of this
lodge.
 Sherwood
literally meant "Shire Wood." And in the Middle Ages, Sherwood did cover
much of Nottinghamshire and was over twenty miles long. Some of the trees
in Sherwood include oaks like the Major Oak and silver birch trees. One
peculiar kind of oak is the "stag-headed" or
"blasted" oak. Legend has it such trees were struck by lightning. And while that's sometimes the case, the distinctive appearance often has a less flashy cause. The stag-headed shape can result from old age, wood boring insects, fungal decay and rain causing rotting of the heart wood. (Click
on the words blasted and stag-headed to see pictures of these trees.) Click
here to see another outlaw in Sherwood. And click
here to see some more trees in Sherwood Forest.
Sherwood
was patrolled by foresters who would mete out swift justice to those who
broke the forest laws by such acts as killing the king's deer. Robin, naturally,
broke these laws on a regular basis. Venison, deer meat, was among Robin's
favourite foods. Click here to see a picture of Blacke
Dickon, a medieval forester in Sherwood. Historically foresters were
not always villians -- there were friendly foresters who would leave food
for starving families.
The
defining characteristic of a forest is that it was governed by forest laws.
Much of Sherwood was not a heavily wooded area. There were large fields,
meadows and even towns inside of Sherwood.
 In
and around Sherwood, there are lots of wells, graves, hills, caves, barns,
meadows, larders and the like named after Robin Hood. Almost every town
and village in Nottinghamshire has some tie to the legend. Some say Friar
Tuck was from Fountain Dale, near Blidworth. Will Scarlet's grave is also
said to be in Blidworth. The folks in Mansfield, the town that was once
the very centre of Sherwood Forest, say Will Scarlet was born in their
town. (The ballad says Will hails from Maxfield, possibly in Yorkshire.)
Robin Hood would often frequent a tavern known as the Blue Boar Inn. Alan
a Dale was married in Papplewick. Another legend says Robin Hood was bedevilled
by an evil witch named Maudlin who also came from Papplewick. Yet another
version of the legend shows Robin and his band being very friendly to the
folks of Wickham, although you won't find that town on any Nottinghamshire
map. And some stories say Robin's birthplace of Locksley (or Loxley) was
in Sherwood. You won't find that on a map either.
But
you will find Worksop and Edwinstowe -- two villages which help to promote
Robin's legend to this very day. Robin and Marian were said to have been
married at Edwinstowe. Click here to see the church
at Edwinstowe.
 Although
it's not in Sherwood Forest, the most famous town associated with Robin
Hood is Nottingham. (It's pronounced more like Notting-um than Notting-HAM
as American movies would have it. But some Nottingham locals prefer to
pronounce it "Notting-gum.") Here is the home of the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Robin snuck into St. Mary's church in the old Saxon part of town to pray.
Click
here to see St. Mary's church. He'd also sneak into many Nottingham
archery tournaments, or rescue his men from the sheriff. And perhaps he'd
stop for a drink at The Trip to Jerusalem, a pub which some say was serving
alcohol as far back as Robin Hood's day. The oldest part of the pub is
carved into the castle rock itself.
When
King Richard left on crusade, he gave the shire of Nottinghamshire to his
brother, Count (or Prince) John. But Richard kept control of the castle
for himself. However, when Richard returned to England, the castle was
held by John's supporters. In both Robin Hood stories and real history,
Richard took care of that. There will be more on Richard's siege of the
castle. in the Kings and Princes section.
Nottingham
Castle has been a part of many historical events. Edward III's men snuck
into the castle through a network of caves. They captured those who had
imprisoned and possibly murdered the former king, Edward II. The castle
was heavily damaged during the British Civil War and was later destroyed.
A 17th century ducal palace now stands on those grounds with a gatehouse
being one of the few remaining traces of the castle which stood in Robin's
day.
 Despite
these sieges and invasions, the castle was indeed hard to break into. It
was (is) on top of a easily-defended cliff known as the castle rock. Click
here to see some of the sandstone caves around the castle rock.
But
many Robin Hood legends happen outside of Nottinghamshire.
For
example, the neighbouring county of Derbyshire would have been controlled
by the same sheriff. It's said that Little John was born and died in Hathersage,
Derbyshire. Click here to see Little John's tombstone,
and click here to see a picture of me by his very long
grave.
And
the shire of Yorkshire has as strong a claim to the Robin Hood legend as
Nottinghamshire.
Many
legends say that Robin operated in Barnsdale, a small wooded area on the
Great North Road (known as Watling or Ermine Street) in Yorkshire. Many
travellers were on their guard against robbers like Robin and the Merry
Men. A tree known as the bishop's tree marks the spot where Robin robbed
the Bishop of Hereford. Several place names around Barnsdale, like the
Sayles Plantation, Wentbridge and Doncaster are mentioned in stories. Robin
Hood's Well is in the middle of Barnsdale and it's one of the earliest
places named for the outlaw.
However,
Barnsdale was not a royal forest and would not have been patrolled by foresters.
Also, it was 50 miles from Nottingham, quite a commute for the outlaw,
but he seems to have managed it.
 Also,
Robin's legendary home village of Loxley is in Yorkshire, near Sheffield.
His grave is by Kirklees Priory, where he was supposedly killed. Fountains
Abbey may be where Friar Tuck came from. And then, there's the story of
when Robin Hood became a fisherman in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. He
was a lousy fisherman, but ended up stopping some French pirates. Thus,
the bay in Scarborough is known as Robin Hood's Bay.
And
then there's Huntingdon which isn't part of Nottinghamshire or Yorkshire.
But Robin was said to be earl of Huntingdon.
Boy,
he sure gets around, doesn't he?
Robin
Hood fans take note! The Sherwood Forest of today is a lot smaller than
Robin's Sherwood. Now, there's a group called the Sherwood Forest Trust.
They are trying to save Robin Hood's most famous home.
Click
here to visit their website.
(C)
Text and most photos copyright -- Allen W. Wright, 1998 and 1999.
(C)
Kirklees photo by David Hepworth, courtesy of Lady Armytage.
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