Robin Hood a.k.a. Robin of Loxley
Robin began life in the foothills of the Pennine Mountain range, where trees in Bower Wood provided shelter from the wind and kindling for the fire. Deer roamed in Loxley Chase, sheep meandered over the hills, and grouse hatched their eggs in the heather.
Having time to wander with his bow by his side, Robin became one of the best archers ever. His prowess with the bow, along with a lively wit, sense of humour, and compassion for others, gained him a reputation as a friend of those in need.
His sense of justice and fair play perhaps drove him to participate in the 1381 Peasant Revolt at York. King Richard hanged thousands of poll tax protesters, but after Robin paid a massive fine, the king pardoned him. His pardon reads, “Robert Hode, also known as Robert Dore of Waddeslay in the county of Yorkshire, received the King’s pardon on May 22nd, 1382.” It gives his trade as a litster (a dyer of cloth).
Sheffield Deer Park is one of the largest deer parks in England. It continues to Bowden Houstead Wood in Handsworth, the Greenwood home of Robert Hode and his wife Agnes. (Poll Tax Records, 1379) When Robin died, “Agnes inherited all the houses her brother Sir Will Hodge bought from Robert, the outlaw.”
Handsworth had three coal mines: Bramley Hall No. 2, Orgreave and Handsworth Nunnery. They connected underground and are evidence of an ancient greenwood. The trees provided timber for house-building, and Bowden Houstead quarry had stone. (Ordnance Survey map, 1853.)
Gradually houses replaced trees and coal miners made an open air swimming pool in the woods. Unfortunately, the pool went during the building of the Sheffield Parkway. Urban sprawl included the Asda supermarket, and the last houses constructed in this ancient forest are on the Triangle Estate. Only the street names such as Larch Hill, Willow Drive, Maple Grove, Alder Lane, and Chestnut Avenue remind us of a time long gone. Main Road became Handsworth Road, and Sheffield Parkway became the new Main Road. Robins’s extensive Greenwood has gone forever.
Norfolk Park housing estate is an example of urbanisation, and the principal shopping street in Sheffield city centre is called “The Moor.” The name reminds us of a time before tarmac. Robin’s green and pleasant land, sad to say, is gone forever.
HANDSWORTH POLL TAX REVOLT
Coal, a necessary part of the steel-making process, was vital to village life. It provided work for miners and paid their wages until Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister. She intended to introduce a poll tax and close the mines. It dealt a double whammy to the villagers. When Richard II introduced the poll tax, people rioted, and it needed to be done again hundreds of years later. Margaret Thatcher drafted around 6,000 police officers into Handsworth. They had dogs, riot gear, vans, Range Rovers, and horses. King Richard had his elite Cheshire archers. Taking up the challenge, the unarmed miners from Robins Greenwood gave it their best shot and did what their ancestors achieved back then. And they won. Fantastic!
ROBIN'S STORY CONTINUES ON THE NEXT PAGE, CLICK HERE
NOTES:
In his exact and perfect survey of the Manor of Sheffield and other lands, published in 1637, the surveyor wrote, “William Green, one of my lord’s keepers, held these parcels of land: No. 352: Imprimis Great Haggas Croft, near Robin Hood’s Bower, surrounded by Loxley Firth, contains 1 acre 2 roods, and 27 square perches. Item: Little Haggas Croft, the foundation of a house or cottage, the birthplace of Robin Hood. Loxley Firth encompasses this piece, containing two roods and 13 square perches.”
“Locational surnames such as Robin of Loxley identify those who left their birthplace to settle elsewhere.” (Surname database)
H. Smith, in The Place Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire, notes: “This is the Loxley associated with the Robin Hood ballads.” (English Place-Name Society, vols. XXX-XXXVII), Cambridge University Press, 2004.
The ballad Robin Hood and the Monk dates from 1450. “Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham” to 1472, and “A Gest of Robin Hood” from 1475.
In January 1618, after visiting Robert Armitage III of Kirklees, Roger Dodsworth, an outstanding mediaeval chronicler, went to a local church and wrote, “Robin Hood, born in the Bradfield Parish of Hallamshire, wounded his stepfather to death at the plough and fled into the woods, where his mother sustained him until discovered. Then he went to Clifton-upon-Calder (Kirklees), where he became acquainted with Little John, who kept the kine. This John lies buried at Hathersage in Derbyshire, where he has a fair tombstone with an inscription. Mr Long said Fabyan said Little John was Earl Huntley’s son, after which Robin joined with Much the Miller’s son.” (Bodleian Library MS. Dodsw. 160, fol. 64r.)
Huntly, the birthplace of Little John was the ancestral home of the chief of Clan Gordon, the Earl of Huntly. Sir Alexander Gordon fought at the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333 and was the first Gordon of Huntly. Little John’s cap and bow were in Hathersage Church, high in the roof space, safe from thieving hands. Within the author’s lifetime, someone moved the bow and cap to Cannon Hall, and now he is told they are in Scotland with Clan Gorden.
Mr Fabyan and Mr Long were clothiers. Robert Fabyan, a historian and chronicler, was the ideal person to compile “The Little Geste of Robin Hood,” a book that features cloth.
The Chapelry of Wadsley includes Loxley, Hillsborough, Oughtibridge, Middlewood, Worrall, and Holdsworth, an area of over eight square miles.
Courts identified convicted robbers with the word “Robin Hood” or a corruption of it. Professor Holt tells us William Robehod of the plea roll, the son of Robert le Fevere, was a convicted robber, meaning William Robehod, whose real name was William, i.e., Fevere, was a convicted robber. Hundreds of Robin Hoods roamed the land, accounting for the numerous Robin Hood candidates.
The Lord of Handsworth Manor before the Conquest was Torchil (or Turchil), although after the Conquest, Robert, Count of Mortain, the half-brother of William the Conqueror, took over the lordship of Handsworth, or ‘Hanesuurde’ as it was back then. The manor then passed by marriage to the Paynel and Lovetot families, and William de Lovetot built Handsworth parish church in c. 1170. Not to be confused with St. Mary’s Church in Handsworth, Birmingham. Both the churches of Saint Mary in York and Saint Mary in Handsworth were “Royal Peculiar Churches” maintained for the use of the reigning monarch. Robin would have known both.
Credit goes to David Pilling and Rob Lyndley for finding the pardon.Copyright © 2020, Graham Kirkby, all rights reserved NEXT PAGE
A clip of snowbound Loxley Common is HERE.
Having time to wander with his bow by his side, Robin became one of the best archers ever. His prowess with the bow, along with a lively wit, sense of humour, and compassion for others, gained him a reputation as a friend of those in need.
His sense of justice and fair play perhaps drove him to participate in the 1381 Peasant Revolt at York. King Richard hanged thousands of poll tax protesters, but after Robin paid a massive fine, the king pardoned him. His pardon reads, “Robert Hode, also known as Robert Dore of Waddeslay in the county of Yorkshire, received the King’s pardon on May 22nd, 1382.” It gives his trade as a litster (a dyer of cloth).
Sheffield Deer Park is one of the largest deer parks in England. It continues to Bowden Houstead Wood in Handsworth, the Greenwood home of Robert Hode and his wife Agnes. (Poll Tax Records, 1379) When Robin died, “Agnes inherited all the houses her brother Sir Will Hodge bought from Robert, the outlaw.”
Handsworth had three coal mines: Bramley Hall No. 2, Orgreave and Handsworth Nunnery. They connected underground and are evidence of an ancient greenwood. The trees provided timber for house-building, and Bowden Houstead quarry had stone. (Ordnance Survey map, 1853.)
Gradually houses replaced trees and coal miners made an open air swimming pool in the woods. Unfortunately, the pool went during the building of the Sheffield Parkway. Urban sprawl included the Asda supermarket, and the last houses constructed in this ancient forest are on the Triangle Estate. Only the street names such as Larch Hill, Willow Drive, Maple Grove, Alder Lane, and Chestnut Avenue remind us of a time long gone. Main Road became Handsworth Road, and Sheffield Parkway became the new Main Road. Robins’s extensive Greenwood has gone forever.
Norfolk Park housing estate is an example of urbanisation, and the principal shopping street in Sheffield city centre is called “The Moor.” The name reminds us of a time before tarmac. Robin’s green and pleasant land, sad to say, is gone forever.
HANDSWORTH POLL TAX REVOLT
Coal, a necessary part of the steel-making process, was vital to village life. It provided work for miners and paid their wages until Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister. She intended to introduce a poll tax and close the mines. It dealt a double whammy to the villagers. When Richard II introduced the poll tax, people rioted, and it needed to be done again hundreds of years later. Margaret Thatcher drafted around 6,000 police officers into Handsworth. They had dogs, riot gear, vans, Range Rovers, and horses. King Richard had his elite Cheshire archers. Taking up the challenge, the unarmed miners from Robins Greenwood gave it their best shot and did what their ancestors achieved back then. And they won. Fantastic!
ROBIN'S STORY CONTINUES ON THE NEXT PAGE, CLICK HERE
NOTES:
In his exact and perfect survey of the Manor of Sheffield and other lands, published in 1637, the surveyor wrote, “William Green, one of my lord’s keepers, held these parcels of land: No. 352: Imprimis Great Haggas Croft, near Robin Hood’s Bower, surrounded by Loxley Firth, contains 1 acre 2 roods, and 27 square perches. Item: Little Haggas Croft, the foundation of a house or cottage, the birthplace of Robin Hood. Loxley Firth encompasses this piece, containing two roods and 13 square perches.”
“Locational surnames such as Robin of Loxley identify those who left their birthplace to settle elsewhere.” (Surname database)
H. Smith, in The Place Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire, notes: “This is the Loxley associated with the Robin Hood ballads.” (English Place-Name Society, vols. XXX-XXXVII), Cambridge University Press, 2004.
The ballad Robin Hood and the Monk dates from 1450. “Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham” to 1472, and “A Gest of Robin Hood” from 1475.
In January 1618, after visiting Robert Armitage III of Kirklees, Roger Dodsworth, an outstanding mediaeval chronicler, went to a local church and wrote, “Robin Hood, born in the Bradfield Parish of Hallamshire, wounded his stepfather to death at the plough and fled into the woods, where his mother sustained him until discovered. Then he went to Clifton-upon-Calder (Kirklees), where he became acquainted with Little John, who kept the kine. This John lies buried at Hathersage in Derbyshire, where he has a fair tombstone with an inscription. Mr Long said Fabyan said Little John was Earl Huntley’s son, after which Robin joined with Much the Miller’s son.” (Bodleian Library MS. Dodsw. 160, fol. 64r.)
Huntly, the birthplace of Little John was the ancestral home of the chief of Clan Gordon, the Earl of Huntly. Sir Alexander Gordon fought at the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333 and was the first Gordon of Huntly. Little John’s cap and bow were in Hathersage Church, high in the roof space, safe from thieving hands. Within the author’s lifetime, someone moved the bow and cap to Cannon Hall, and now he is told they are in Scotland with Clan Gorden.
Mr Fabyan and Mr Long were clothiers. Robert Fabyan, a historian and chronicler, was the ideal person to compile “The Little Geste of Robin Hood,” a book that features cloth.
The Chapelry of Wadsley includes Loxley, Hillsborough, Oughtibridge, Middlewood, Worrall, and Holdsworth, an area of over eight square miles.
Courts identified convicted robbers with the word “Robin Hood” or a corruption of it. Professor Holt tells us William Robehod of the plea roll, the son of Robert le Fevere, was a convicted robber, meaning William Robehod, whose real name was William, i.e., Fevere, was a convicted robber. Hundreds of Robin Hoods roamed the land, accounting for the numerous Robin Hood candidates.
The Lord of Handsworth Manor before the Conquest was Torchil (or Turchil), although after the Conquest, Robert, Count of Mortain, the half-brother of William the Conqueror, took over the lordship of Handsworth, or ‘Hanesuurde’ as it was back then. The manor then passed by marriage to the Paynel and Lovetot families, and William de Lovetot built Handsworth parish church in c. 1170. Not to be confused with St. Mary’s Church in Handsworth, Birmingham. Both the churches of Saint Mary in York and Saint Mary in Handsworth were “Royal Peculiar Churches” maintained for the use of the reigning monarch. Robin would have known both.
Credit goes to David Pilling and Rob Lyndley for finding the pardon.Copyright © 2020, Graham Kirkby, all rights reserved NEXT PAGE
A clip of snowbound Loxley Common is HERE.