The Robin Hood Festival is an annual event, celebrating the famous outlaw by re-enacting stories from the ancient tales. These photographs are from 2014. I am sure readers can guess the identities from the costumes involved.
Where did Robin Hood spend the winter? Well, probably not in the heart of Sherwood Forest! Not only would it be rather cold and short on food, but the route known as the King’s Great Way would also have been relatively low on rich travellers during those months when snow, sludge and ice made the passage more arduous.
Robin Hood’s so called “Merry Men” were effectively a medieval gang, and popular gangs operate by providing in some small measure for the needs of the community which harbours them, albeit often illegally. Therefore, by stealing from the rich and giving some handouts to the poor, they could have gained warm shelter in the winter, in the local villages of Blidworth, Papplewick, and Byrunsdale / Bernysdale (now known as Old Basford).
The video shows Sherwood Forest covered in a blanket of snow, January 2013, featuring Robin Hood's tree the Major Oak. Many thanks to the Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre ground staff of the time, for allowing me access to the statues when the centre was closed
According to legend, Will Stutely was rescued from the gallows by Robin Hood at the base of Castle Rock, where the wooden walls of the original castle once stood. But a far more likely location would have been Gallows Hill at the northern entrance to the town. This post and related video, explains why.
In Saxon times the centre of Nottingham was where High Pavement is today, with the hugely successful Weekday Cross Market, and a Fort built on the site where now stands the Nottingham Contemporary Art Gallery. Beneath the streets are the remains of dark dungeons carved out of Nottingham's famous sandstone. Archaeologists believe they show evidence of links with prisons and punishment right back to Saxon times. Shire Hall, now known as the Galleries of Justice, stands where similar official buildings have stood since 600AD. After the Norman Conquest the appointed Sheriff of Nottingham's duties were based here from 1125. He was required to collect taxes and keep the peace, and although written records before the 14th century are sparse, it is likely this site known then as Sheriff's Hall, was always more connected with law and order than the Castle itself. Public executions took place outside this hall between 1738, (James Gilders for Highway Robbery), and 1861 (Richard darker, for killing his mother). After 1868, executions were held out of view on the west end of the prison yard, but crowds would still eagerly gather to read the Death Notice on display. Across the street from Shire Hall stands St Mary's Church, the place where Robin Hood is said to have been arrested by the Sheriff of Nottingham in a much earlier building, after breaking his sword in a duel. During the 15th & 16th centuries, prisoners condemned to hang were given their last rights here. Criminals were hung on the day after their conviction (unless that be a Sunday). Gallows Day (now known as gala day), was usually declared a public holiday, and persons owning a room above street level would hire it out to those thirsting for a better view of the grisly entertainment involved. But this is not the original place where Nottingham’s public executions were held. That dubious honour must go to Gallows Hill. After a brief service in St Mary’s, the prisoner would mount the executioner's cart and begin his final journey towards Gallows Hill at North Gate. Sometimes a small choir would follow behind, and doubtless many noisy spectators. When the cart reached the bottom of Mansfield Road, (the North road leading out of the city), if the prisoner was of Jewish descent his cart would turn left down Shakespeare Street where the Jews were allotted a gallows of their own.
Gallows Hill is the junction of Forest Road East and Mansfield Road. The earliest surviving mention of these gallows dates from 1496, but centuries before that travelers entering this North Gate to the town would have witnessed bodies swaying here in the breeze, and therefore be deterred themselves from any lawbreaking. The original public gallows is said to have stood where St Andrew's Church now stands, high on a sandstone ridge so typical of Nottingham's landscape, and had to be moved when the church foundations were laid in 1869. However, other sources say a permanent gallows was erected across the road much earlier in 1558. This makes more sense, for who would build a church on the exact spot criminals had so recently been hung?
Above: Nottingham Rock Cemetery. The cemetery keeper's lodge marks the spot where these gallows once stood. (Not to be confused with the somewhat grander Lodge of 1857 further down the hill, built for the 19th century racecourse.) In 1800 the gallows were made of a portable construction, after a group of daring young men removed them on the day before an execution! The last execution to be held here was of 45 year old William Wells, in April 1827, for highway robbery. Thereafter Gallows Hill had its name changed to appease local residents, but is said to remain the haunt of many ghosts. Rock Cemetery is on the site of a former sand mine, hence the varying levels in its lay-out. (There are no natural caves in Nottingham). In Robin Hood's day the area at the base of this sandy hill, now known as the Forest Recreation Ground, would have been the start of the once mighty Sherwood Forest.
There are two sites in Nottingham particularly associated with tales about Robin Hood entering the city disguised as either a butcher or a tanner to sell his wares on the market stalls. The first is Weekday Cross, on what was once Garner's Hill. This area was the busy centre of the original Saxon town of Snottingham, and would remain so until the Normans chose an alternative hill on which to build their Castle, an act which effectively divided the town into "French" and "English" boroughs.
Above: Hen Cross, situated the other side of Nottingham Town Hall from the Market Square, was an ancient Saturday poultry market. By the mid-16th century the road was known as Hencrosse Row, suggesting it still had an identity separate from nearby Market Square, but in 1800 all trace of a cross marker was removed. Stories about Robin Hood say he came here disguised as a chicken vendor in order to spy on events in the city.
Above: Pilgrim Oak stands in front of the gates to Newstead Abbey. This is the spot where pilgrims would stop to read from the bible before moving on to the Priory itself. On the opposite side of the road is The Hutt Inn, where travellers would gather together in larger numbers before passing through the notorious Thieves Wood on their way to Mansfield and beyond. Beneath the road are the remains of an underground tunnel linking the Abbey with The Hutt Inn.
For obvious reasons Pilgrim Oak is also sometimes referred to as the Gospel Oak, and it is thought that the site was also the place where people would gather to celebrate various religious festivals during the year. Happily, it remains in a superb, healthy condition to this day.
Above: The 'Byron Oak' was planted by the poet himself in the grounds of Newstead Abbey when he first arrived there in 1798, his ancestral home in Nottinghamshire.
As late as 1850, the tree was described as being of “a goodly size, considering the slow growth of the oak”. However, when visiting the abbey in 1807 he found the tree choked with weeds and almost destroyed. Hence his poem:
" Young oak, when I planted thee deep in the ground,
I hoped that thy days would be longer than mine;
That thy dark waving branches would nourish around
And ivy thy trunk with its mantle entwine.
When lack of finances forced Byron to sell Newstead, finding a buyer was not easy. In 1818, two years after Byron had left England for good, his school friend Col. Thomas Wildman purchased the estate for £94,500, and would invest another £100,000 refurbishing the house and gardens.
Colonel Wildman disliked the placing of the oak and almost had it cut down for fear of it obscuring the view from the south façade. As we can see today, the tree was not removed, although its care in subsequent decades is questionable considering its rather sad, stump like status today.
The current building dates from 1671, but the church which originally stood on this site is said to be the place Robin Hood would both hide and use to worship. In the very earliest ballads about Robin Hood he declares bishops and archbishops (plus of course the Sheriff of Nottingham), to be his main enemies. But we also learn from those ballads that Robin would pray on a daily basis to the Virgin Mary.
St Nicholas Church stands in what was the predominantly Saxon part of Nottingham town after the uprisings which followed the Norman Conquest. If Robin Hood was a descendant of those who lost lands and property to Norman lords, then he may well have felt safer amongst the company he found here.
Top: A rare clip from the first TV series, 1953. Patrick Troughton took the lead role.
Above: A promotion video for the 2006 – 2009 TV series. This was shown in the Nottingham Castle Robin Hood Exhibition, timed to coincide with the second series.
I am sure many Robin Hood fans, local residents and tourists, have fond memories of the Sherwood Forest Visitors’ Centre as it used to be. Here is a clip of the video which was on repeat play therein.
To the left of Nottingham Castle Gatehouse is the Castle Green, host to the most famous Robin Hood statue in the world. Sculpted by James Woodford, it was presented along with a series of wall plaques to the city by Philip E Clay to commemorate Queen Elizabeth's visit to Nottingham in 1949, the city's Quincentennial year. The plaques depict famous scenes from the Legend of Robin Hood. Shown here are Robin fighting Little John over the River Leen, and the wedding of Robin and Marian.
Two other sculptures, dated 1951, are also by James Woodford and portray several of Robin Hood's better known outlaws: Will Stuteley (also known as Will the Bowman), Little John, Friar Tuck, Alan A Dale, and Will Scarlet. Will Stuteley's presence is linked to the story that he was rescued from the Sheriff of Nottingham's gallows on this very spot by Robin Hood.
Above: All those depicted on the statue are named in the video.
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Robin Hood researchers look to the late 14th century collection of tales “A Gest of Robyn Hode”, as a source of information. First circulated in printed format in the 16th century, having been added to over time, it is still a piece of entertainment bringing together all the most famous stories about the legendary outlaw. The second verse of the original tale in that collection (translated here into plain English) states:
“Robin stood in Bernesdale,
Leaning on a tree,
And by him stood Little John,
A good yeoman was he.”
It is this reference to Bernesdale, (or “Bernysdale“), which became rather too simply translated as “Barnsdale”, that is responsible for the theory that Robin Hood was a Yorkshire man. But the distances involved don’t make sense.
Take just one obvious example, why would a lad from a forest in Yorkshire have such an ongoing grievance with the Sheriff of Nottingham? And why would he spread his activities so wide? Robin Hood and his “Merry” Men were effectively a gang, and gang’s don’t do that. They operate within a very specific “territory”, marking it as their own, recruiting members from that same region to better ensure their security and loyalty.
In the late 80's Nottingham historian Jim Lees put forward the theory that Bernysdale was in fact Byrunsdale, a small region within Basford, Nottingham, now only marked on maps as Old Basford. Byrunsdale (also named Brinnesdale in some historical documents), was about 3 miles North of Nottingham Castle. Go just 7 miles further North from Byrunsdale and one is in the region where Robin Hood is said to have met Little John, Friar Tuck, and Alan A Dale, whilst robbing the rich merchants and tax collectors in Thieves Wood along the King's Great Way. Logic dictates that Robin Hood was indeed from Nottingham, and that this stretch of “highway” between Nottingham City and Blidworth, where there were riches to be had within walking distance of home, was his territory.
Above: The River Leen as it flows through Old Basford in a somewhat modified state. It was over the River Leen which Robin Hood first met Little John in a location some 7 miles North of here.
Promo photographs from the highly successful stage play "Robin Hood", 1906, featuring Lewis Waller as Robin Hood / Earl of Huntingdon. Above: Robin gives the servant girl Adela (Dorothy Minto) his messages to Maid Marian.
