HoodWinked! IS YORKSHIRE 'ROBIN' NOTTINGHAM OF A LEGEND? Benjamin Dunn follows the Yorkshire trail of the legendary outlaw and finds some surprising clues... He's the original thug in 'da hood' who everybody loves to hate. His name? Robin Hood, the medieval bad boy gangster in bright green tights. Long associated with the historic English city of Nottingham, this notorious villain of his day is now famous throughout the world. This can be credited to scores of books and several Hollywood movies dis!laying an array of de!ictions characterising one of Euro!e's greatest myths. "ut who was this man of the middle ages? #as he a law unto himself? He entered fol lore as a hero of the !eople, ultimately gaining the une$!ected gift of immortality. "ut will his legend live forever? Later this year Appion Way, the production house run by Leonard DiCaprio, brings us another slab of the Robin Hood legend. Welsh actor Taron Egerton shoots his long-bow as the leading an, while Ray and Djano Unchained's !amie Fox# – an e%en bigger draw, offers up a twist as Robin's wing an, Little !ohn. (t is well )nown that Nottinghamshire has any associations with our an in the hood, but little is )nown that '+ods own country', Yorkshire further North has some substantial and e#tre ely interesting clai s and place name connections of its own related to the original bad boy bandit of -herwood Forest. It Was A Good Dayle .ne such location within the e#panse of what was once )nown as -herwood Forrest, until its deci ation for ship construction under /ing Henry 0((( is a place called 1arnsdale. 2is is a steep sided %alley, where horses and carts had no choice but to slow to a halt as they rode down 3Roman) Watling -treet 3some say Ermine -treet4, otherwise )nown as '2e +reat North Road' to cross a strategic bridge over the ri%er Went. 2is was at the i aginati%ely titled %illage of Wentbridge, which became a perfect place for The Prince of Thieves to pic) off the riches of those unfortunate wayfarers passing through the %alley. 2is is e%en recorded as being referenced in the edie%al ballad, a %ersed song in story-form, 5Robin Hood and the 6otter57 "'Y mete hem bot at Went breg,' syde Lytyll John" Which you'll be glad to know translates in al!ost "#st century $nglish as% "'I met him but at Wentbridge,' said Little John" A Lyttle Gest of Robin Hode Livin' On The Edge (of Sherwood) 8oving further North into Yorkshire, there is a pub called the &ld 'alf ay 'ouse which is situated at a cross roads, li)ely to ha%e built on the site of any an ancient coaching inn o%er the years. 2is hostelry has recently undergone a change of hands and reopened in the early 8ay of 9:;< serving feasts and ales Robin Hood hi self would be proud to poach. What's the connection? 2e Halfway House pub is in an area actually called Robin 'ood with a nearby Robin Hood Hill, adjacent to the %illage of .utwood $ indicating the edges of -herwood Forest. .utwood e%en gets a ention in the edie%al ballad ?@ Lyttle +est of Robin HodeA. A local researcher, Eric Houlder who has gi%en a tal) se%eral years ago to the Hol e 0alley Ci%ic -ociety uncovered some incredible facts in support of the connections. 1ac) in 9:;: 2e HuddersBeld E#aminer quoting 8r Houlder wrote7 "Robin Hood was outlawed at Pontefract and in the original ballads went to live in Barnsdale Forest, an area just north of Doncaster" The newspaper informs us how in edie%al ti es a forest was an area ruled by something called 'Forest Law'. Forests were not necessarily completely wooded, ?2e early ballads ention 1arnsdale 1ar, Robin Hood’s well and other places in 1arnsdale Forest, but nowhere is there any ention of Nottinghamshire.A Why would of the earliest literary references to Robin Hood fail to ention the place ost famously associated with hi = Bow Thugz N Our Moneys Crossing into West Yorkshire, there are two further sites with connections to the fugiti%e of the forest - one being the City of WakeBeld. According a 8anorial Court Roll from the year ;E9F, a an called Robert Hode, is in dispute with a woman called 8atilda, the wife of 2omas de Counale. 2is is over a piece of land they both lay a clai of ownership towards. 2is disagree ent between Robert and 8atilda de Counale is signiBcant as it shows a an al ost atching the name and story of Robin Hood being a landlord in possession a piece of land. 2is is howe%er at a place called '-ourby' which is to be taken as -owerby 1ridge, ore speciBcally over an area called 1entlayrode, which still e#ists today as 1entleyroyd. 8oving on, the WakeBeld land dispute is over a plot which is near the old arket place. 2e 8anor Court Rolls of ;E;G tell how the couple purchased a parcel of land called '1ichill'. 8any, any years later in ;EFH an entry shows the "tene ent on 1ichill formerly in the tenure of Robert Hood". .f the -ourby case, this H:: year old legal docu ent goes on to state how: "Matilda sues the said Robert for her dower in 6 acres in Bentlayrode, defendant says her husband Thomas had no rights in the said land" Furthermore, the Court Rolls for the 8anor of WakeBeld for ;EE;-EE also refer to a Robert Hood. Could this be one and the same person, who has nu ber of land interests dotted about the area? (t is perhaps noteworthy that the name 8atilda crops up in ;E;G as Roberts wife, and then in ;E9F as 2omas' wife. 6erhaps Robert and 8atilda di%orced, she later is re arried to 2omas, and from this there was some dispute over her dowery – the highly priIed land? 2is Robert Hode, whose profession was gi%en as a forester is then at the ti e of ;E99 recorded in the court rolls as actually being an .utlaw, li%ing somewhere within -herwood Forest. (t is possible he was part of the Lancastrian Re%olt of that year and was on the unvictorious side. (ts e%en clai ed he deserted on one campaign, hence the status as an .utlaw. His dwelling place was within the 8anor of WakeBeld, where he held 9 acres of land as a yeoman farmer at a spot )nown then as 1ichill, eaning 1irch Hill. 2e 1ichill area of WakeBeld at this ti e was part of the nucleus of a then s all town – and today is covered by part of the bus station. Possibly stand ''' for 'oodJ .n the opposite side of the road stands an ancient building, used until ;<FK as the EliIabethan built Lueen EliIabeth +ram ar -chool, which founded in ;FM; and constructed around the same ti e. Wakefield's Old Elizabethan Grammar School, built within Robert Hode's "ichill holdin#s Above Ri#ht: Example of a (eoman's or 'Hall' House datin# to the late )* th +entury, in ,ent. The +ountin# House, an historic )/th +entury structure in nearby 0ontefract- It is likely Robert Hodes five room house at Bichill, Wakefield resembled these- Inn Da Hood !ust to add a bit ore weight to the case for these Yorkshire links, there are or have been at one ti e se%eral pubs within the county called the Robin Hood. .ne e#ists at Cragg 0ale, as the trail up into the 6ennines beyond Halifax is followed. Nntil the last decade or so there was also pub of the same name in the Nndercli&e area of North 1radford, which was at the cross roads of .tley and /illinghall Roads. 2is site is %ery near the line of a suspected Roman Road - )nown as -il%erhill Road, which crosses the nearby cric)et pitch. 2e building at last report was a plu bers erchants. 2ere is also an al ost identically named inn on Town +ate in Hebden 1ridge. .f course there are any ore pubs dotted around the country with this or a si ilar name, and none necessary guarantee a genuine historical connection to the authentic yth. You will Bnd pubs of this name in North London, -outhampton, 8erseyside and -heOeld to name but a few. What is could tell us howe%er is the length and bredth of how his yth travelled throughout the land, and the e#tent of the crafty copy cat crooks who would literally cash in on the legend and Berce reputation of one of history's ost re%ered bandits and highwaymen. Centuries later, characters li)e William '-wiPni#' Ne%ison famed for his urderous isdeeds at Howley Hall between 1atley and 8orley and the infamous Esse# lad Dic) Turpin a century later would have grown up on the e#ploits of -herwood's Bnest Qeece erchants. A quic) chec) on +oogle re%eals at least three pubs named after Dic) Turpin, two in Esse# and one in -taffordshire. (f the logic of hi %isiting these areas, and a later name chec) is anything to go by, then the li)ely hood of R.H. calling by and at a later date being re e bered through a pub could well stand Brm. Old Half!ay House, Robin Hood at Out!ood, Wakefield 2o! closed Robin Hood 'ub at Undercli4e, Bradford )*th +entury ,irklees Priory Gatehouse Map showin# locality of "arnsdale 6orest +)7th The Blood of Robin Hood (Get Rich or Die Tryin') (Or Kirkleeasy-E and the Blood of A-Bow-Man) As pre%iously entioned there is the area of Robin Hood Hill near .utwood, which is not far from Lofthouse and another Roman Road way.