INTRODUCTION

Quoting from 'The Geste Of Robin Hood':
"Robyn stood in Barnsdale,
And leaned against a tree,
At his side stood Little John,
A good yeoman was he."

Further along it says:

"I made a chapel in Barnsdale,
That's beautiful to see,
It is of Mary Magdalene,
It's where I'd like to be."

Barnsdale is where the early medieval Rhymes of Robin Hood are set and it is to where Robin Hood returned after his encounters with the Sheriff of Nottingham. It was in Barnsdale where Robin robbed the Bishop of Hereford of his gold, it is in Barnsdale where Robin Hood helped the poor knight on his way to York, it is in Barnsdale at Campsall where Robin Hood built the early wooden church of St. Mary Magdalene near the River Skell and according to tradition it is where Robin Hood and Little John first met and had their famous fight over the same River Skell at Wentbridge in Barnsdale.

'Hood' is derived from the Saxon word "Houdt" meaning "the wood" i.e. 'Robber in the Wood' where thieves, vagabonds and fugitives sought refuge from the courts. For those who doubt Robin Hood was a real person here is an extract from John Fordun's account of the defeat of Simon-de-Montfort in the Scotch Chronicles:

AD1265
"In that year also the disinherited English barons and those loyal to the king clashed fiercely; amongst them Roger de Mortimer occupied the Welsh Marches and John-de-Eyville occupied the Isle of Ely; Robert Hood was an outlaw amongst the woodland briar's and thorns. Between them they inflicted a vast amount of slaughter on the common and ordinary folk, cities and merchants. King Henry, however, along with his son Prince Edward and a huge army also besieged the very well fortified castle of Kenilworth, where almost [May] all the nobles who were rebelling against the king had taken refuge. There the remnant of Simon-de-Montfort's following, seeing that the castle with its towers and protecting walls was impregnable, defended themselves steadily with all their might. At length, worn out by lack of food and starvation, they handed over the castle on [Dec] the condition that they keep life and limb."

A little later John's pupil Walter Bower inserted a note about Robin Hood that read

AD1266
"Then arose the famous murderer, Robert Hood, as well as Little John, together with their accomplices from among the disinherited, whom the foolish populace are so inordinately fond of celebrating both in tragedies and comedies, and about whom they are delighted to hear the jesters and minstrels sing above all other ballads."

Adding more substance to the ghostly figure of Robin Hood was another historian Andrew-of-Wyntoun, prior of Loch Leven who was writing his rhyming chronicle called 'Orygynale Chronicle' about the same time as John Fordun although the two chroniclers seem to have been unaware of the other's undertaking. However Andrew-de-Wynton firmly places Robin Hood and Little John in Inglewood and Barnsdale:

"Lytil Jhon and Robyne Hude
Wayth-men ware commendyd gude
In Ingle-wode and Barnysdale
Thai oysyd all this tyme thare trawale."

AD1377
Then a hundred years after the death of Simon de Montfort came the first literary reference to Robin Hood when William Langland in 'Piers Plowman' confirmed Robin Hood's popularity with the people when the lazy priest called Sloth admitted "I know not perfectly my Paternoster as the priest singeth it but I know the rhymes of Robyn Hood".

THE PRESENT DAY

After the man came the legend and after the legend came places that bore his name: -
1) The earliest place named afer him is a medieval wayside cross called 'Robin Crosse' in 1319. (Holt) It is one mile East of Bradwell in Hazlebadge parish in Derbyshire. Hazlebadge Hall belonged to the Sheriff of Nottingham and is near Hathersage and Loxley.

2) Next in order of antiquity is Robin Hood's Bay which is in Yorkshire. It is mentioned in correspondence from the years 1324 to 1346, between the Count of Flanders and King Edward (this record was discovered by Robert Lynley).

3) Then comes Robin Hood's Well on the Great North Road in the middle of Barnsdale which often feaures in the Rhymes of Robin Hood. The first recorded mention of the well was in a Monkbretton charter of 1422.

4) The first Robin Hood place name in Nottingham is a field described as 'Robynhode Closse.' It first occured in the Nottingham civic Chamberlains accounts for 1485.

5) The next Robin Hood place name is again in Nottingham and is Robin Hood's Well that was re-named At. Anne's Well. It was first mentioned in a presentment at the civic sessions of 20 July 1500.

All in all we have Robin Hood active in 1265, the first place name credited to him in 1319, the first literary mention of him in 1377 and the first printed versions of the rhymes dating from around AD1450. Thus the accounts of John Fordun, Walter Bower, Andrew-of-Wyntoun and the 'Geste of Robin Hood,' are all in harmonious agreement telling of the period in which he lived, his location in Barnsdale, and his activities at Ely.