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Robin Hood - A Yorkshire Legend?`But he comes from Nottingham, doesn’t he?
Such is the popular idea surrounding Robin Hood but how many people in Brighouse are aware of the famous outlaw’s connection with their town? Films and books over the years have distorted the legend out of all recognition, but the real Robin Hood is a far more fascinating person than any Hollywood fairy tale, which over the years have turned Robin from a sausage curled moustachioed Yankee jester, (Errol Flynn) to, more recently, a reincarnating Pagan Will o’ the Wisp. (Robin of Sherwood). The picture which has emerged is of a children’s story-book type Robin capering through Sherwood Forest with his band of swashbuckling Merry Men, pursued by the dastardly Sheriff of Nottingham. He has also acquired the title of Earl of Huntington along the way and he, very nobly, robbed the rich to give to the poor! His sweetheart was the simperingly beautiful Maid Marian, who never laddered her tights or had a hair out of place! The king is always Richard the Lionheart or was he? Over the next few weeks, Barbara Green, President of the Yorkshire Robin Hood Society, hopes to present a rather more truthful account of the legendary outlaw and will explore Robin Hood’s links with God’s own county and in particular his local connections. Who, then, was Robin Hood? A very possible theory is that he was a yeoman of Wakefield, outlawed at the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322. There are areas around Wakefield mentioned in the earliest printed ballad, the Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode, in particular Barnsdale Forest which covered much of the midlands from Wakefield to the borders of Nottinghamshire and Sherwood Forest. Other areas include Doncaster, York and the east coast. “My dwelling is in this wood”, sayes Robin “By thee I set right naught: I am Robin Hood of Barnsdale Whom thou so long has sought ”. Ballad from Robin Hood and Guy of Gisburn, verse 36 Finally we come to Kirklees, where our famous outlaw lies forlorn and neglected. Few know of his grave’s existence and even less have seen it. For centuries it has lain undisturbed and forgotten beneath a shroud of rhododendron and yew trees. It is so well guarded by thick woodland undergrowth and prowling gamekeepers that even the sun would be lucky to intrude upon its shattered ornate railing and fallen stonework. The monument lies in almost total disrepair, a great ship of stone wrecked in the everglades of Kirklees, lost to a nation to whose heritage it belongs. In a similar state of disrepair is the Medieval priory gatehouse, which stands six hundred yards away. This small ruined building is possibly the sinister setting of the gruesome murder of Robin Hood. Here he was bled to death by the wicked prioress of Kirklees for reasons that still remain a mystery. This once sacred building now stands desecrated by time and neglect as it was once desecrated by the spilling of innocent blood. The few who have ever seen this unique vestige of our past will never forget the timeless aura permeating the four gabled walls of this last surviving witness to the death of a man who became an immortal legend. The arrow that the dying outlaw shot from his deathbed landed six hundred yards from the gatehouse of Kirklees Priory and beneath the spot where the quivering arrow landed, Robin Hood was laid to rest. This story will be explored more fully in the forthcoming weeks. |
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