{"id":7,"date":"2015-10-25T21:33:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-25T21:33:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2023-11-13T04:31:29","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T04:31:29","slug":"robin-hood-connections-in-north-yorkshire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/bardsandauthors\/2015\/10\/25\/robin-hood-connections-in-north-yorkshire\/","title":{"rendered":"Robin Hood connections in North Yorkshire"},"content":{"rendered":"

ROBIN HOOD<\/b> – As with King Arthur, the existence and legends of Robin Hood are widely discussed. <\/p>\n

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There are claims both in Nottingham and Yorkshire – Doncaster etc. But what of North Yorkshire…?<\/p>\n

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\nRobin Hood’s Bay<\/b><\/div>\n
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\nWhile the origin of the name of Robin Hood’s bay<\/i>, south of Whitby, is uncertain there is the Robin Hood ballad of  The Noble Fisherman<\/i>, possibly written afterwards, in which – <\/div>\n
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\n“Robin Hood went out in his fishing trip and he encountered pirates who came to pillage the fisherman’s boat. He got the French pirates to surrender and returned the goods that the pirates had robbed during the plundering of the northeast coast of England to the poor peoples. Robin Hood returned home to his Merry Men from his trip of fighting the pirates and gave the pirates’ loot to the poor people of the village of the bay that is now called Robin Hood’s Bay<\/i>”  Source here<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n
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\nThe Noble Fisherman, or, Robin Hood’s Preferment<\/b>
(Child Ballad No. 148) <\/span>by: Anonymous (Author), Francis James Child <\/a>(Editor)<\/span>from: The English and Scottish Popular Ballads<\/a> 1882-1889 Source <\/span><\/span>
\nhttp:\/\/d.lib.rochester.edu\/robin-hood\/text\/child-ballad-148-the-noble-fisherman-or-robins-preferment<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

In summer time, when leaves grow green,
When they doe grow both green and long,
Of a bould outlaw, calld Robin Hood,
It is of him I sing this song.<\/p>\n

When the lilly leafe and the elephant
Doth bud and spring with a merry good cheere,
This outlaw was weary of the wood-side,
And chasing of the fallow deere.<\/p>\n

‘The fishermen brave more mony have
Then any merchant, two or three;
Therefore I will to Scarborough goe,
That I a fisherman brave may be.’<\/p>\n

This outlaw calld his merry men all,
As they sate under the green-wood tree:
‘If any of you have gold to spend,
I pray you heartily spend it with me.<\/p>\n

‘Now,’ quoth Robin, ‘I ‘le to Scarborough goe,
It seemes to be a very faire day;’
Who tooke up his inne at a widdow-womans house,
Hard by upon the water gray.<\/p>\n

Who asked of him, Where wert thou borne?
Or tell to me, where dost thou fare?
‘I am a poore fisherman,’ saith he then,
‘This day intrapped all in care.’<\/p>\n

‘What is thy name, thou fine fellow?
I pray thee heartily tell to me;’
‘In mine own country where I was borne,
Men called me Simon over the Lee.’<\/p>\n

‘Simon, Simon,’ said the good wife,
‘I wish thou maist well brooke thy name;’
The outlaw was ware of her courtesie,
And rejoycd he had got such a dame.<\/p>\n

‘Simon, wilt thou be my man?
And good round wages I ‘le give thee;
I have as good a ship of mine owne
As any sayle upon the sea.<\/p>\n

‘Anchors and planks thou shalt want none,
Masts and ropes that are so long;’
‘And if that you thus furnish me,’
Said Simon, ‘nothing shall goe wrong.’<\/p>\n

They pluckt up anchor, and did away did sayle,
More of a day then two or three;
When others cast in their baited hooks,
The bare lines into the sea cast he.<\/p>\n

‘It will be long,’ said the master then,
‘Ere this great lubber do thrive on the sea;
I ‘le assure you he shall have no part of our fish,
For in truth he is of no part worthy.’<\/p>\n

‘O woe is me,’ said Simon then,
‘This day that ever I came here!
I wish I were in Plomton Parke,
In chasing of the fallow deere.<\/p>\n

‘For every clowne laughs me to scorne,
And they by me set nought at all;
If I had them in Plomton Park,
I would set as little by them all.’<\/p>\n

They pluckt up anchor, and away did sayle,
More of a day then two or three;
But Simon spied a ship of warre,
That sayld towards them most valourously.<\/p>\n

‘O woe is me,’ said the master then,
‘This day that ever I was borne!
For all our fish we have got to-day
Is every bit lost and forlorne.<\/p>\n

‘For your French robbers on the sea,
They will not spare of us one man,
But carry us to the coast of France,
And ligge us in the prison strong.’<\/p>\n

But Simon said, Doe not feare them,
Neither, master, take you no care;
Give me my bent bow in my hand,
And never a Frenchman will I spare.<\/p>\n

‘Hold thy peace, thou long lubber,
For thou art nought but braggs and boast;
If I should cast the over-board,
There were nothing but a lubber lost.’<\/p>\n

Simon grew angry at these words,
And so angry then was he
That he took his bent bow in his hand,
And to the ship-hatch goe doth he.<\/p>\n

‘Master, tye me to the mast,’ saith he,
‘That at my mark I may stand fair,
And give me my bended bow in my hand,
And never a Frenchman will I spare.’<\/p>\n

He drew his arrow to the very head,
And drew it with all might and maine,
And straightway, in the twingling of an eye,
Doth the Frenchmans heart the arow gain.<\/p>\n

The Frenchman fell downe on the ship-hatch,
And under the hatches down below;
Another Frenchman that him espy’d
The dead corps into the sea doth throw.<\/p>\n

‘O master, loose me from the mast,’ he said,
‘And for them all take you no care,
And give me my bent bow in my hand,
And never a Frenchman will I spare.’<\/p>\n

Then streight [they] did board the Frenchmans ship,
They lying all dead in their sight;
They found within the ship of warre
Twelve thousand pound of money bright.<\/p>\n

‘The one halfe of the ship,’ said Simon then,
‘I ‘le give to my dame and children small;
The other halfe of the shlp I ‘le bestow
On you that are my fellowes all.’<\/p>\n

But now bespake the master then,
For so, Simon, it shall not be;
For you have won her with your own hand,
And the owner of it you shall bee.<\/p>\n

‘It shall be so, as I have said;
And, with this gold, for the opprest
An habitation I will build,
Where they shall live in peace and rest.’<\/p>\n

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\nFrom East Yorkshire Folktales<\/a><\/i> by Ingrid Barton <\/b>we learn that Robin Hood’s Bay<\/i> was once just called Bay Town.<\/i><\/div>\n
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\nLater in this area, in regard to Robin Hood<\/b> –<\/div>\n
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Joseph Ritson <\/b>born in Stockton on Tees (1752- 1803 (Lawyer, Writer and Antiquarian<\/i>). His collection<\/p>\n

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of the Robin Hood ballads <\/i>is perhaps his greatest single achievement, called  Robin Hood: A Collection of All the Ancient Poems, Songs, and Ballads, Now Extant, Relative to That Celebrated English Outlaw: To Which Are Prefixed Historical Anecdotes of  His Life. In Two Volumes<\/i>.<\/p>\n

More on Joseph Ritson<\/b> in a separate post on this site.<\/p>\n

\n(Read online or download Joseph Ritson’s Robin Hood as a free ebook –  here<\/a><\/b>). <\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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\nIn 1987<\/b> – in Castleton – <\/div>\n
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\nJulian Atterton<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

More recently,  Julian Atterton<\/b>, (Storyteller, Author, Lyricist, Singer and Climber)<\/i> and brought up in Saltburn, lived in Castleton on the N. York moors when he wrote and researched The Outlaw Robin Hood<\/i>, published by Walker Books<\/i> in 1987.<\/p>\n

\nhttp:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Robin-Hood-Sheriff-Walker-doubles\/dp\/0744524903<\/a><\/b><\/div>\n
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Julian Atterton<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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\nJulian Atterton passed away in 2005, here is more about his life and artistic work http:\/\/www.yorkshirepost.co.uk\/news\/community\/julian-atterton-author-lyricist-singer-and-climber-1-2555151<\/a><\/b><\/div>\n
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\nPeter Walker <\/b>– Peter is better known to many as the author of  the books behind the TV series Heartbeat<\/i>.Folk Tales from the North York Moors<\/i><\/div>\n
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His writing output has been quite diverse, and we will include a post about him on this site. Meanwhile, in relation to Robin Hood associations in the area, Peter has a handle on that. In his book  Folk Tales from the North York Moors<\/b><\/a> <\/i>he identifies a number of associations and in fact talks about them in this article for the Gazette and Herald, <\/i>here<\/b> <\/a><\/p>\n

Peter Walker says
\n“As a child in Glaisdale in the North York Moors, one of my regular playgrounds was our local greenwood, ie Arncliffe Wood, where I would go to search for Robin Hood\u2019s Cave. I never found it even though local folklore said it was definitely somewhere in that wood along with an underground tunnel that reached all the way to Robin Hood\u2019s Bay. I never found that tunnel either. To add to the strength of the tales, there were locations on the North York Moors where he was said to have practised archery.<\/p>\n

Robin Hood\u2019s butts appear above Robin Hood\u2019s Bay from where he fired an arrow that landed in the bay, a<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Peter Walker<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

sign that he should make good use of that seaside village. There are also some Robin Hood\u2019s butts near Danby-in-Cleveland and a local pub that used to trade in nearby Castleton was named The Robin Hood and Little John with Robin Hood\u2019s Howl not far away near Kirkbymoorside .<\/p>\n

Robin Hood\u2019s Howl is sometimes suggested as evidence that Robin had some association with Hartoft near Rosedale. It was Bernard Miles, the actor (later Lord Miles) who said that having married Marian, Robin came to live at Hartoft where he was once accused of poaching.<\/p>\n

It was to Robin Hood\u2019s Bay that the outlaw is said to have constantly fled on those many occasions he was being hotly pursued by the law. He was given shelter by local people and the legend suggests he went to sea with the fishing fleet to avoid capture, on one occasion defending a fishing boat against raiders through the skilful use of his famous bow and arrows.<\/p>\n

Also in this locality are stories of him practising his archery on local beaches along with an account of him and Little John firing arrows from the top of the tower at Whitby Abbey. This arose due to a challenge as they were shooting cliff foxes that plagued the local farms; Robin and John were well known in and around Hawsker but never wore their famous Lincoln green costumes. Even though the local people were aware of their identity, Government officials and constables never knew.<\/p>\n

One day when they were dinner guests of the Abbot of Whitby Abbey, someone challenged Robin and John to see who could shoot furthest from the highest point of the abbey, each firing 10 arrows.<\/p>\n

To cut short a long story, it was actually Little John who shot the furthest. The fields in which their arrows landed were named Robin Hood\u2019s Close and Little John\u2019s Close.<\/p>\n

The landing sites were marked with standing stones but in 1890 they were dumped in a ditch because they obstructed horse-drawn mowing machines.<\/p>\n

Whitby photographer Frank Meadow Sutcliffe later found them and photographed them, and persuaded another farmer to re-erect them but in 1937 one was seen in use as a field roller near Hawsker church.<\/p>\n

Today a pair of replacement stones bearing the names of Robin Hood and Little John stand beside a public footpath about 100 yards from Stainsacre Lane with wonderful views of Whitby Abbey. There is no guarantee they occupy the positions of the original stones.<\/p>\n

Robin Hood has many associations with other parts Yorkshire, including Wakefield, Barnsdale Forest, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge, York and Foston near Malton . The location of his grave is widely accepted as being on private land within the grounds of Kirklees Priory near Huddersfield.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most intriguing suggestion is that Robin Hood and his Merry Men were members of the Knights Templar, a popular organisation established about 1129 and endorsed by the Catholic Church due to its charitable work, financial skills, military discipline and devout faith. In support of this, the Templars were present in many parts of Yorkshire, some sites still being recognisable because Temple forms part of their name.
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ROBIN HOOD – As with King Arthur, the existence and legends of Robin Hood are widely discussed. There are claims both in Nottingham and Yorkshire – Doncaster etc. But what of North Yorkshire…? Robin Hood’s Bay While the origin of the name of Robin Hood’s bay, south of Whitby, is uncertain there is the Robin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/bardsandauthors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/bardsandauthors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/bardsandauthors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/bardsandauthors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/bardsandauthors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/bardsandauthors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/bardsandauthors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions\/176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/bardsandauthors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/bardsandauthors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/bardsandauthors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/bardsandauthors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}