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Robin Hoods grave

ROBIN HOOD

found on a bbs

Is there anyone as fascinated as I am about the legendary site of Robin's grave at Kirklees estate in Yorkshire.I find it to be one of the most interesting parts of the legend. I thought it might be a good idea to present a story of the grave in chronological order, gathered from different sources. While the different sources do not always match up, I shall present a story that I believe to be fairly accurate.It must be remembered that ther are two stones associated with his grave, (though not always together)the grave slab with the cross,and the stone with his epitaph Also does anyone have any recent photos of the walled in contents of the grave, I have some, but only from 1900. Does Lady Armytage still only allow rare visits to the gravesite, is it still in need of repair,I have heard mention that the grave slab has been reconstructed, would anyone like to make any comments?


ROBIN HOOD'S GRAVE

1400? His death and burial at Kirksley mentioned in the closing verses of the Gest.

1539 Joan Kyppes surrenders Kirklees Priory,
the whole property amounts to 29 pound 18 shillings and 9 pence. The Armytage family takes up residence soon after.

c.1540 John Leland in his Collectanea states,
"Kirkley monasterium monialium ubi Ro.Hood nobilis ille et lex sepultus." The monastery of Kirkley, where the famous noble outlaw Robin Hood is buried.(translation by David Hester, University of Adelaide)

1569 Grafton's Chronicle states,"upon his grave the sayde prioresse did lay a very fayre stone(the slab) with a raised cross botonny on a calvary of three steps sculptured thereon" with an inscription as recorded by Grafton;
"Here lie Roberd Hude Willm Gold burgh Thoms"
(the rest obliterated)

1607 Camden's Britannia states; "at Kirklees nunnery robin Hood's tomb with a plain cross on a flat stone(the slab) is shewn in the cemetery."

1632 At the end of Martin Parker's "The True
Tale of Robin Hood" he quotes,"the Epitaph which the Prioresse of the Monastery of Kirkes lay in Yorke-shire set over Robbin Hood" etc.
Decembris quarto die, 1198:anno regni Richardii Primi 9.
Robert Earle of Huntington
Lies under this little stone
No archer was like him so good
His wildnesse named him Robbin Hood
Full thirteen yeares, and something more
these northern parts he vexed sore
such out-lawes as he and his men
May england never know agen
Some other superstitious words were in it which I thought fit to leave out.(I wonder what these words were)

1665 Nathaniel Johnston made a drawing of the grave, a stone slab with the insctiption;
"Here lie Roberd Hude Willm Gold burgh Thoms"
There is a stone lying near the slab with some sort of insctiption,this is clearly visible in the drawing,but the words cannot be read.

1697-1702 Thomas Gale dean of York left among his papers a record of an epitaph of Robin Hood.
Hear undernead dis laitl stean
laiz robert earl of Huntingtun
near arcir ber az hie sa geud
an pipl kauld im robin heud
sick utlawz az hi an iz men
vil england nibr si agen
obiit 24 kal dekembris 1247
This seems to be written in some form of archaic Roman, possibly at the time of
Henry V111.

1715 Thoresby in his Ducatus Leodiensis states;""near unto Kirklees the noted Robin Hood lies buried under a grave-stone(the slab?) that yet remains near the park, but the Inscription scarce legible."

1786 Richard Gough in his Sepulchral Monuments of Great Britan states,"The figure of the stone over the grave of Robin Hood (in Kirklees park)a plain stone(the slab) with a cross botonny thereon broken and the inscription illegible.

19th century Sir George Armytage enclosed
the grave in a low stone wall with an iron railing to stop vandalism, by this time the slab was badly damaged and little remained.He then inserted a stone formerly lying by the side of the grave,this contained an epitah almost identical to that of Gale's. An earlier Armytage, Sir Samuel Armytage owner of the premises "caused the ground under it (probably the slab) to be dug a yard deep, and found it had never been disturbed" perhaps they should have dug down another yard.

It seems clear to me that the slab with the cross was present before the stone with the epitah,(they do appear together in Jonhnston's drawing) It appears that there has been more than one epitah, there are at least four different versions of the epitah mentioned in print, there may have been a different epitah at different times, the one at present may be from the ninteenth century.
Three versions have the words Robert Earl of Huntington on them, it is doubtful any are earlier than the sixteenth century. The slab with the cross seems older,this type of grave covering was fairly common in the 13th and 14th centuries,there may have been only one slab. Was the slab originally in nearby Heartshead church, or somewhere else and then moved to Kirklees by some member of the Armytage family simply because it bore the name Roberd Hude. Who are the other
persons inscribed on the slab, were they buried with Robin? Has the slab remained in the one spot? Perhaps the slab with cross was originally placed at Kiklees without the inscription, that being added later, perhaps it is from the 13th century. Was the slab actually moved to Harsthead church in the 19th century to prevent further damage(there is supposed to be part of a slab similar to the one that was at Kirklees in the grounds of Hartshead Church) Is anyone still with me, is anyone totally confused?
This is all I have to say, apart from, would anyone like a list of the prioresses of Kirklees?

davyguy
New Contributor posted 09 January 2001 06:36 PM Click Here to See the Profile for davyguy Edit/Delete Message Robert,

I may be able to answer most if not all of your comments about the grave at Kirklees.

My research into Kirklees began back in 1987 and then I did a masters on the history of the nunnery itself, giving prosopographical information about the grantors of land, as well as reconstructing as much as possible of its history.

During my researches - which uncovered an extra 6-7 previously unknown charters, and the names of another two prioresses - I obviously commented briefly about the RH connection. I am currently rewriting the original work, adding more illustrations and have commissioned a landscape artist to reconstruct the valley view and doing comparisons with similar nunneries. The book is due for publication towards the end of this year.

In 1999 at the International RH Conference in Nottingham, I presented "A Grave Tale", this highly illustrated talk (using 100 or so slides) told the history of the grave from the Gest date of c. 1439-75(and also citing Stephen Knight, Bower's comment about tragedies as a possible earlier date of 1440) up to 1999. If Tom Ohlgren's thoughts on the 1439 date of the Gest, then it may account for Bower's attention. Certainly there are absolutely strong mercantile links across all the early ballads which would supprt the belief that the transmission of the surviving ballads had their origins in the Gilds and their movements/entertainments and possibly their fund raising activities, particularly since religious gilds, which predated the mercantile ones, usually merged into mercantile gilds in the 14th century.

I can email you a copy of the version that is to be published in the papers of the RH Conference (again later this year), please email me at hepworth2@ntlworld.com if you would like a copy. I have also been asked to expand the whole (I had to abridge much information due to the time constraints and also was able to talk more when the group visited the Kirklees estate on the last Sunday of the conference) into a monograph, complete with illustrations - I am still working on this version.

I will comment/answer the points in your posting:
I guess the opening part is now dealt with. It only remains to say that there has only ever been ONE grave slab, I have external proof that the epitaph did not exist until 1773, when the present iron and stone enclosure was made - although there may have been some damage done in the 19th century, the Armytage accounts do not have any reference to repair costs at this time. The only work was maintenance work, including the rebuilding of the bottom stone wall (which can be seen in some photos) in 1903-5. If you have photographs and the grave is in reasonable condition, then they must be around this date, because much replanting was done at this time. There had been an iron enclosure that was erected around 1740-45, but this got damaged and the current one was rebuilt.

I have recent photos, which again I could let you have, these were taken with Lady Armytage's permission, although if they are to be reproduced or disseminated (as in Allen Wright's website), they need copyright to me and "by consent of Lady Armytage to David Hepworth" adjacent - this was my agreement with Lady A. Lady A does allow visits (indeed, I accompany some of them) and the posting on this site of her phone number suggests that she is willing to have people round - appointments must be made in advance - and obviously fit in with her personal diary. The grave is in need of repair and the slab has not been reconstructed.

The Johnston drawing must be used with caution. I have found and seen the original that was used in the YAJ Article on Kirklees Priory and has subsequently been reprinted by most authors on the subject. The drawing published was an amateur copy of the original (which is now in the Bodleian), and it is drawn by Stukeley. I do not have the time to comment here, but it is covered in the paper - as well as Johnston's visit to Kirklees.

The print versions of the epitaphs form an interesting history on their own account, and again, the paper has all printed versions known to me, including where originals have been copied incorrectly. There are different schools of what the epitaph was, with very few having seen the original at Kirklees. In tabular form it is easy to see who copied which "original". You mention four epitaphs (this seems similar to Professor Keen's comment), however, one thing that totally astounded me in my research, was that from the earliest accurately measureable estate map (still showing the Jacobean landscaping and fields) right up to the modern OS map, the grave has NOT moved. Even during Georgian landscaping works it remained constant - this proved the family's integrity to the monument.

The slab at Hartshead (cited by Barbara Green as being Robin's grave) is not and could never have been Robin's. The only part of the slab extant at Hartshead is the calvary steps foot and part of the shaft. It measures about (from memory) 1 foot by 3 feet. It also looks as though it was originally a slab for use within the church, rather than being a freestanding exterior tomb. Robin's was something like 6 feet by 4 feet by 1 foot thick in the mid 18th century - and also the evidence for the protection of the grave from accounts and its constant location - seem to prove that it has remained at Kirklees. Peter Ryder did a Masters at Sheffield University in the 70's (and continues to work in this field) on medieval graveslabs and their imagery - the calvary step was the most popular foot for a grave image - therefore one would expect to see them on most medieval slabs (as indeed we do). It is impossible to claim that a fragment with only the steps and partial shaft in a reduced size is the original.

I identify one of the other people on the slab in my paper and by default from that indicate that it is likely to be the Wakefield Robert Hood of the 1300's - I am 80% of the way into identifying the other person.

It is a fairly straightforward history, which has been confused by academics citing each other, and no one checking out the original facts - hence "A Grave Tale" - one about the grave, and a salient warning to check things out!