ho ho ho Robin Hood videos of yore

& theres more

much (no pun)

& .........

the prioress' of kirklees

THE PRIORESSES OF KIRKLEES

POBJOY

Lecia

Sybil or Sigill 1240

Margaret de Clayworth 1306

Alice de Screvyn 1307-1328

Margaret de Seyvill 1350--1361

Elizabeth de Staynton?

Alice de Mountenay1403

Cecelia Hyk 14762

Joan Stansfield 1491

Margaret Tarleton 1499

Margaret Fletcher 1505

Cecelia Topcliffe 1527

Joan Kyppes or Keppax 1539

****************************************************************************************

DUGDALE’S MONASTICUM

Margaret de Clayworth 1306

Alicia de Screvyn 1307

Cecelia Hill

Joanna Stansfield 1491

Margaret Tarlton 1499

Margaret Fletcher 1505

Cecelia Topcliffe 1527

Joan Kyppax

******************************************************************

HOPKIRK

Elizabeth de Stainton--no date

Mary de Hopwood 1187

Maud Clayton 1211

Marion Pinkerley 1225

Elizabeth de Scervin 1252

Mary de Inchcliffe 1270

Judith de Startinly 1289

Margaret de Clayworth 1306

Alicia Screvin 1307

Elizabeth Jepson 1329

Mary Startin 1344

Elizabeth Rhodes 1361

Alicia Bradley 1393

Margaret Allen 1417

Elizabeth Kitcheman 1453

Cecelia Hill 1476

Joanna Stansfield 1491

Margaret de Tarleton 1499

Margaret Fletcher 1505

Cecelia Topcliffe 1527

Joan Kepasset or Keps 1532

********************************************************************************************

These lists can be slotted together ,without discrepancy,with presumed years of office, as follows:

Lecia 1190-1211

Maud Clayton 1211--25

Marion Pinkerly 1225-40

Sybil 1240-48

Joanne de Staynton1248-52

Elizabeth de Scervin 1252--70

Mary de Inchcliffe 1270--89

Judith de Startinly--1289--1306

Margaret de Clayworth 1306--1307

Alice de Scriven---1307--1328??31

Elizabeth Jepson--1329--44

Mary Startin--1344-1350( Died of plague--(-ref Eileen Powers)

Margaret Deseyvill--1350--61

Elizabeth Rhodes--1361--73

???Elizabeth de Stainton??

Alicia Bradley--1393--1403

Alice de Mountenay--1403--1417

Margaret Allen---1417--53

Elizabeth Kitchinman 1453--76

Cecelia Hyk---1476--91

Joan Stansfield--1491--99

Margaret Tarleton--1499-1505

Margaret Fletcher--1505---27

Cecelia Topcliffe--1527--32

Joan Keppax--1532--39

my thanks again to Barbara Green

why did the prioress murder Robin Hood ?

I am endebted to Barbara Green & YRHS for providing much of the content on this site

The assumption that Matilda became Robin’s wife and Elizabeth’s sister in law, does not explain why Elizabeth went on to murder him in later years . If this hypotheses is correct,however,we might consider a lethal love triangle here , Robin falling in love with Matilda while Elizabeth was packed off to the nunnery suffering from a medieval "fatal attraction"--exacting her revenge for her thwarted passion , in later years! ("hell hath no fury......"). However, as we have seen, the dates do not fit -- this scenario is thirty years too early. Another mysterious clue lies in a document quoted by Wakefield historian J.W.Walker. This is also mentioned by Pobjoy,who reports a dispute over eighteen acres of land between " the Prioress of Kirklees and Esmon , son of the noble Richard of England and Earl of Kent in 1373." The Latin text reads: "1373, Orate pro Elizabetha de Staynton quondon prioressa Kirklees quo intempere illus du carta fust adquista" and translates: "Pray for Elizabeth de Staynton formerly prioress of Kirklees at which time the document was aquired. " This seems to suggest that Elizabeth was prioress prior to 1373, but it can be read either way . JW Walker also quotes another document which he states that the prioress of Kirklees(he infers Elizabeth) signed a legal document in 1348,but the British Library have been unable to verify the entry which was not under the reference quoted (Harleian 4360 Folio 517)so the riddle still remains. Finally, why did the prioress kill Robin ? Venesection,or "bleeding" was common medical practise in the Middle Ages. Many people must have died as a result, but it was an ignominous end for the swashbuscking Robin ,whether by accident or design. The ballads state that the prioress, and her lover "Red Roger of Doncaster" murdered Robin in revenge for his opposition to the corruption in the Church. If it was murder--for whatever reason-- it was a particularly treacherous and gruesome act,and it has even been suggested that there could be links with pagan sacrifice or vampirism ! There is a fascinating mystery here,still waiting to be solved, but until all the evidence is uncovered,this part of Robin’s legend will remain shrouded in darkness,Yorkshire’s buried treasure,or even Blair Witch 11 !

SHE LAID THE BLOOD IRONS ON ROBIN HOOD’S VAINE

ALACKE,THE MORE PITYE!

AND PERCT THE VAINE,AND LET OUT THE BLOODE,

THAT FULL RED WAS TO SEE.

AT FIRST IT BLED,THE THICKE,THICKE BLOODE,

AND AFTERWARDS THE THINNE,

AND WELL THEN WIST GOOD ROBIN HOODE,

TREASON THERE WAS WITHIN.

Death of Robin Hood v 16-17

BARBARA GREEN

2)RIDDLE OF THE PRIORESS

Have they,one wonders, solved the riddle of the prioress ? Have they been shown hitherto unseen documents , undiscovered by previous researchers ? The only prioress’s grave still in evidence at Kirklees is that of Elizabeth de Stainton (or Staynton) but there is no date on her tombstone. The Reverend Harold Pobjoy, the Hartshead vicar and historian who wrote A HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT PARISH OF HARTSHEAD CUM CLIFTON in the nineteen thirties,gives a list taken from Dugdale’s Monasticum. He also quotes from Hopkirk’s HUDDERSFIELD IT’S HISTORY AND NATURAL HISTORY 1846, which has a similar list, but unfortunately Hopkirk does not name his sources. The two lists can be slotted together without causing any discrepancy,although there are gaps. The problem of the prioress’s identity is further compounded by the fact that no one knows for certain the date of Robin’s death, but research suggests that it may have been 1347. The reasons for this are discussed in Barbara Green’s THE OUTLAW ROBIN HOOD HIS YORKSHIRE LEGEND. If the date of Robin’s death is 1347 then Dame Mary Startin was the prioress in office at the time, not Elizabeth de Stainton. According to Eileen Power in her book MEDIEVAL ENGLISH NUNNERIES (Cambridge University Press) Dame Mary died of the Black Death in 1350,although in some ballads the prioress is said to have committed suicide after murdering Robin).

Elizabeth de Stainton,on the other hand ,could not have been prioress in 1347.She was one of four daughters of John de Stainton of Woolley,near Wakefield. Following her father’s death, Elizabeth’s mother married Hugh de Toothill and Elizabeth and her sister were sent to be nuns at Kirklees for reasons of family economy. William de Notton,her uncle and their guardian,took provision to ensure than the girls had not been forced into the religious life, and a document was signed at Monk Bretton Priory in 1347 protecting the interests of Elizabeth and her sister (from a deed at Woolley Hall,in the possession of Lieut Commander Wentworth). Graham Collins and Martin Keatman in their book ROBIN HOOD THE MAN BEHIND THE MYTH (1995) have a theory about Elizabeth which connects her with Robert and Matilda Hood of Wakefield. They suggest that when Elizabeth’s mother married Hugh de Toothill, his daughter by his first wife, called Matilda,married Robin. There is mention of a woman called Matilda in the Wakefield Court Rolls of 1314,being arrested for stealing the lord’s firewood.

Alexander the Great ,Greece & Scotland

PLEASE NOTE:
This site is now quite large , I will be moving it to private hosting
as soon as I can , in the meantime as it is an ongoing project
please click around , if theres anything you feel is missing ,
or would like linking , theres a shout box to make any (tasteful)
comments or suggestions ,

diversifying a bit further afield , heres some excellent documentaries
about Alexander the great , the Spartans , & braveheart himself
total playing time 3 hours...

a Yorkshire Robin Hood ??

this is the "nuns grave" Elizabeth de Stantain is known to be buried here . (she is most often , though probably erroneously linked with the murder of Robin Hood)
The other occupant is unknown , although it is possibly the prioress Mary Stavin ,
research by Barbara Green seems to suggest much of the Robin Hood story is flawed &
that historical blunders abound .
To the fullest extent of my research I can neither confirm or deny the exact timeline .
Other pages on this site have plausible identities & court records dating to the 13th
century . However this could be wrong , an amount of work exists that Robin Hood was alive in the 14th century
Whether or not we shall ever know with certainty is the "great work" of this site
as I sift through archives & local records . One thing we are confident of is where
Robin Hood was from , he was a Yorkshire man . Despite the fancifull claims of Nottinghamshire , Robin was born , lived & died a Yorkshireman . Before the deforestation of englands woodland to build ships Sherwood Forest extended to the Peninnes & some say even as far North as Scotland . The fame of the encounters with
the Sherrif of Nottingham are out of all proportion with the life of Robin Hood , who
I suspect lived into his fifties . Work on this fascinating subject is ongoing ,
I can offer any students of Robin Hood a juicy titbit , Bottomley is the surname thought by many to be the surname of his living descendants .

GHOSTLY VIDEOS

In order to prepare for ghosthunting , I decided to collect a few videos ,
please make up your own mind about these....

kirklees priory gatehouse

Many sources (in fact all I have read) cite the gatehouse as the place where Robin Hood
was murdered . It is 650 yards from the grave . A number of individuals claim it is too far to fire an arrow , so if the building hasn't moved perhaps the grave has....tbc

the robin hood videos

bbc fanciful robin hood news stories

this is for google (deep linking)
I dont take the view of this author , but by copying verbatim , & adding metadata
it may help to ascend search engine rankings , thats the theory

A reconstruction of Robin Hood's last arrow by Richard Rutherford-Moore
The author has served as a historical interpreter for Notts County Council’s “Robin Hood Country” and in several articles about Robin Hood on the BBC Nottingham website, serving as a historical adviser and contributor to television programs such as The True Story of Robin Hood (The History Channel) and Robin Hood : Fact or Fiction ? (Channel 4). This article is based on research for the chapter ‘Kirklees - A Grave Mistake ?’ in the author’s final book On The Outlaw Trail Again in his Robin Hood trilogy in which the subject of “Robin Hood’s Grave” is discussed in detail. The book is scheduled to be published in late 2003.

“When you have eliminated every other possibility, what remains - however improbable - must be the truth.”
Mr Sherlock Holmes to Dr John Watson : London, December 1892

“Bury me where my arrow falls …” are traditionally Robin Hood’s last words to Little John ; or at very least something close to his traditional last words to his best friend before dying in one of the rooms of the Gatehouse of Kirklees Priory. The famous outlaw traditionally went to the Priory as he had a kinswoman there serving as the Prioress who was skilled at medicine, and he hoped for a cure for his ailments or at best some form of tonic. Although the Prioress and her associate, Red Roger or Roger of Donkesley in the story have come down to us today as being the definite ‘baddies’ in the tale, they weren’t actually at fault under medieval law ; outlaws were really ‘outside the law’ by order of the authorities and as they officially didn’t exist anyone could legally take them dead or alive to claim an official reward. The Prioress could be judged at fault allowing a known outlaw aid as giving shelter, food or any assistance to known outlaws was strictly forbidden and would be punished if discovered.

Kirklees Priory - as all similar religious houses - did put up travellers or the sick in their Guest House or hospital and provide them with food and drink in return for a ‘donation’ ; this is where Robin Hood should have been staying but as he was related to the Prioress there he was convieniently lodged in an upstairs room of the Priory Gate House instead. The Guest House was a quarter of a mile away from the actual Priory but the Gate House was part of the main Priory complex itself. The gatehouse offered far more privacy than the public rooms - especially if you were intending to bump somebody off whilst in there. It doesn’t say so in the old ballad, but Little John probably stayed in the public Guest House, ten minutes walk away and may have been somewhere in the vicinity of that place when he heard Robin Hood’s bugle-horn signal for help.

A study of stories and tales between the 15th - 18th Century offer various accounts of the death of the famous outlaw and the shooting of a ‘last arrow’ ; in the earlier stories, it isn’t mentioned at all and in later ones we sometimes have two ‘last arrows’ with the first shot by Robin dropping into running water. The present monument to the south-east bearing the name “Robin Hood’s Grave” where the outlaw is traditionally held to be resting in peace lies six hundred and fifty metres from where it is traditionally held the last arrow was shot by Robin Hood - between two and three times the maximum distance held by reconstructed modern medieval archers that an actual medieval archer within the time-slot above could have shot over with an arrow. It was noted by the author that the distance at Kirklees between the present Robin Hood’s Grave from where the arrow was traditionally shot was exactly double the length of the famous shot mentioned in the old ballad Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne.

NOTE : A reconstructed shot to define the power and distance using a bow made to the design of the very powerful longbows from Henry VIII’s flagship The Mary Rose (mid-16th Century) sent the arrow 227 yards. Other reconstructions from recreated medieval archers have reached ranges between 250 and 300 yards. Feats of archery in the old Robin Hood ballads are always exaggerated ; for example, splitting a tree branch with an arrow at a distance of 330 yards - but of course in medieval times accurate tape-measures were not common at all and the distance of any such shot would have probably been measured in ‘paces’. The longbow claimed to have once been owned by Little John weighed twenty pounds, measured six feet seven inches long, six inches in circumference at the grip, fitted with horn nocks and had a reported pull of over a hundred and fifty pounds. This sort of power might be useful in hunting wild elephants but could drive an arrow right though a deer at the kind of range you’d probably hunt over in a medieval forest. One arrow shot during a medieval siege at a Welsh castle still has the arrowhead embedded three inches deep in a stout oak door there.

What would Robin Hood or Little John have seen looking out of the upper east-facing windows of the old Kirklees Priory Gatehouse when preparing to loose a final arrow ? The answer - of course - is Kirklees Priory. The religious house here was founded in 1155 (the beginning of the reign of Henry II) by Reynor de Fleming, the lord of the manor of nearby Clifton under the Cistercian Order. The Priory later held the daughters of the local gentry for safe-keeping ; these weren’t under holy orders and caused fun and games into which a few of the nuns were said to have joined in ; in October 1315 the Archbishop of York censured the place after hearing ‘ … scandalous reports of the nuns of Kirklees … that they admit both clergy and laymen too often into the secret places of the monastery and having private talks with them from which there is a suspicion of sin and great scandal arises …’ The good archbishop went on to ‘ … command the Prioress to admonish the nuns and especially those above named that they are to admit no-one whether religious or secular unless in a public place and in the presence of the Prioress under penalty of Greater Excommunication’. Excommunication by a religious court to the medieval clergy was what outlawry from a common law court was to a medieval commoner.

Kirklees Priory lasted until the period of The Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII ; the place was closed in 1539 and the royal commissioners arrived the following year to take it over as Crown property. The occupants became redundant but having nowhere to go some are said to have stayed in the area in ever-dwindling numbers with one of the nuns at the time after allegedly being made pregnant by a royal commissioner later drowning herself in the nearby Nun Brook. The Priory grounds became a privately owned estate in 1565.

Looking out of the upper storey windows of the Priory Gatehouse last year I tried to imagine the Priory in front of me using a survey drawn up after modern excavations, pictures, photographs and period illustrations of what religious houses such as Kirklees Priory looked like.

NOTE : A survey followed excavations of Kirklees Priory in the early part of the 19th Century, with the chief concern apparently being other buildings perhaps not discovered including a possible missing dormitory and frater (dining-room). The Priory Gatehouse was rebuilt and ‘modernised’ in the last half of the 16th Century and no-one knows what the actual differences are between the present building and the original gatehouse (save the inclusion of chimneys, which weren’t invented when the original was built) but an artists impression in the possession of a Yorkshire archaeologist has the original building having an archway and perhaps twice the size. This was another factor to consider when fixing the elevation of the arrow, but the ground plan and foundations of the present gatehouse are generally held to be very similar to the original building. The upstairs floor of the original building could have been a little lower than it is today.

It wasn’t a large place compared to some contemporary religious houses - Rufford Abbey and St Mary’s Priory in Sherwood Forest for example, founded around the same time - but as part of the endowment obviously had a good bit of land to use as the Priory Guest House was built about a quarter of a mile away to the south-east. Later, a large barn was added and taking advantage of the Nun Brook flowing past the Priory, fish-ponds were excavated to provide the occupants with food for the days when meat was forbidden to be eaten by them for religious reasons. None of the Priory buildings save the Gatehouse are there today as they were pulled down and the materials from them went into building the nearby old hall ; the Gatehouse itself was maintained as a ‘hunting lodge’ and interior decorations added to oak beams in the form of inlaid carvings of deer, foliage and trees. As it was a convent, the wall enclosing these buildings would have been high enough to prevent anyone jumping up to peer over the top ; perhaps as much as twelve feet high. No windows faced outwards except in the Priory Gatehouse. The tallest building there before 1540 would have been the Priory church and bell-tower, the roof level of the cloister adjoining the church to the south and some small buildings to the south of the cloister dropping to between nine and twelve feet, as according to the archaeological survey being mainly ground-floor buildings only with perhaps an exception in one adjoining building on the far eastern edge. These buildings would have been the ones that the two outlaws would have seen in front of them looking east out of the upper storey windows of the Priory Gatehouse at any time in the two-hundred year long time-span between the year 1200 and 1450 which forms the historical time-slot in which the ‘last arrow of Robin Hood’ is traditionally supposed to have been shot there by historians and researchers.

I recalled what the famous consulting detective Sherlock Holmes advised when faced with an awkward three-pipe problem and facts that offered no solution to it. Could a simulation or a reproduction of ‘Robin Hood’s last arrow’ be possible ? On my last visit to the Gatehouse I borrowed a short plant-stick from the nearby barn about the length of an arrow and rather like a magician’s wand used it to note a few measurements for a proposed future experiment.

Back at home in Sherwood Forest to make the practical experiment a little easier, I sliced off the first and last fifty years of the two hundred year-long time-span ; the longbow intended to be used is of the kind used from about the end of the 12th century, and the most popular date for Robin Hood’s death at Kirklees is 1247 - the 13th Century - and most of the supporting evidence for the outlaw’s existence dates from the 14th Century. Not a war-bow with a pull of over a hundred pounds, but the sort of bow an outlaw chap might carry on a day-to-day basis to put meat on the table ; about sixty to eighty pounds draw-weight at around five and a half feet in length. An ash bow would be longer for the same power ratio so a yew bow was selected for the experiment. Similarly, the arrows intended to be used were of the sort suitable for hunting an animal such as fallow deer and not military heavyweight armour-piercing bodkin points. Hunting arrows are lighter and intended to be loosed at a flat trajectory into the correct place in the intended ‘live’ target ; although clout-shooting is known to have been practised, in a hunting sense it is inapplicable. Dropping arrows on a target from above is a military tactic, performed at long-range against a body of advancing enemy soldiers and these projectiles would be made far heavier. But - before any reconstructed arrow can be shot - a look must also be taken at the many factors influencing power, flight length and direction.

How did Robin Hood shoot his final arrow ; was he in a vertical position, a horizontal one - or something in between ? At the time, most tales relate he was feeling pretty ill, but in one story he managed despite the great loss of blood to blow a horn-signal loud enough to be heard at a distance outside the building and just after that use a sword to knock out an assassin - by mortally wounding him - despite being wounded himself by the assassin during the fight. It is this wounding that is said to have been the final straw that did for Robin Hood. The National Blood Transfusion Service suggest a few minutes rest and give donors a cup of tea and a biscuit after taking a pint of blood - taking two or more by this method is said to be very dangerous as it is going far faster than the body can replace it would cause rapid and increasing dehydration. Outside of a Hollywood feature film, a man suffering from a combination of rapid blood loss, nervous tension, physical exertion and shock one would at least have him at least sitting down - before he fell down - for more than a few minutes in order to recover. For an experienced hard-bitten medieval English archer with one foot through death’s door and about to die even aided by a well-built friend, drawing to the chest, judging both elevation and direction and shooting an arrow out of a narrow window from a upwards-facing horizontal position to send it over six hundred yards would be quite impossible.

NOTE : I selected the illustration of Robin Hood’s last arrow with this article as Little John is seen mostly supporting Robin Hood’s body as in other illustrations John is actually helping Robin to draw the bow. But - if you are an archer or have a bow and wish to try this for yourselves, try the latter position with a friend and see how difficult it is - but for safety reasons please don’t nock any arrows to the bowstring indoors.

Assuming the archer is within two feet of the window, the nearer the floor - or lying on his back on a bed - the arrow was loosed the higher the possible height, passing as close as possible to the top edge of the window. Shooting straight through the window from a sitting position, you can get a far better distance but achieve less height ; from a standing position you can judge the optimum height to gain the furthest distance particularly by bending the right knee and drawing the arrow to the chest.

The arrow was shot from an upstairs window ; allowance must be made for a starting height of between twelve and fifteen feet. This may seem petty, but it is an important factor to consider in terms of a possible trajectory as in front of us we have buildings and we don’t want to hit any. The highest part of the biggest building extending over thirty degrees to our left is 50 feet away , 80 feet long and 21 feet wide with the highest part somewhere between thirty and forty feet high measured from the ground, and is on the left-hand side of the buildings. The further right we aim, the less the height of the buildings - between nine and twelve feet - in front of the arrow. Beyond the far edge of these buildings - 150 feet away - or across the brook to our right we have a clear area (but a few trees). The window restricts aiming left to right. The closer we are to it, the more angle we gain. But ; for a right-handed person using a longbow the forearm must extend up to two feet from our body to gain the power ; a necessary position but an awkward restriction on where we can aim left to right. The farther the archer is away from the window, the more severe the angle of flight for the arrow left or right.

We are after maximum power to gain a maximum range. We are assuming the archer has enough strength left for at least one good shot from his bow, with a bit of help from a friend. We are assuming that this friend can move him to face in the best direction so he doesn’t have to get up off the bed or chair he is lying on or sitting in. Using the imagination - or your bedroom and few props to get a better understanding perhaps - the reader should now have arrived at a point where they have a rough idea of how and where the arrow could have been shot.

I had to repeat my calculations in the Priory Gatehouse twice ; because of the right-hand edge of the window there is only a twenty-degree wide slot ten degrees to the right out of the window to the right of the highest building from in which to be able in the body-position proposed to actually shoot the arrow through the window to suit the requirements for reaching the optimum height to gain a maximum distance and stay very clear of the water in the brook. You have the power to clear the brook by aiming well to the right but anywhere to the right beyond the specified degree the left arm, the window edge and the gatehouse wall severely restrict an aiming point to be able to do so.

We now have an elevation ; we don’t require any particular target to shoot at but we do require to calculate the available power. We can ‘cheat’ a little here - by drawing the bowstring back towards the chest and loosing a number of arrows when a mark on the base of a thumb of the right hand is between twelve and zero inches from the chest, we can get a variation in power and an average ‘fall of shot’. Let’s say we loose an arrow every two inches out from the body until we reach two inches back from fist-mele ; the problem with that is the far edge of the buildings is 150 feet away from us. We must have the power to clear not only the height of the buildings but also the length ; all 150 feet. We now have the estimated minimum power as we must clear that distance at the optimum height. Maximum power is pure guesswork but the bow can be shot at full-draw, which is the maximum possible power.

NOTE : Fist-mele is the historic measurement used by archers stringing longbows to define the correct tension of the bow before shooting. It is where the thumbs-up sign to signal ‘affirmative’ originates. The modern workplace terms ‘knocking-on’ and ‘knocking-off’ have the same origin.

Despite the obvious temptations, shooting an arrow out of the actual window of the Priory Gatehouse was never considered. The place is a historic building and there is a modern road, other buildings and people and pets that live there - gardens, hedges and trees make visibility into many areas quite impossible. One needs to take precautions when indulging in live archery ; I had very good teachers who impressed this factor on me continuously but I am also lucky in that there are some pretty wide open areas in Sherwood Forest where I live. Standing with a companion at the end of a long grassy field, having checked for hazards and keeping an eye open for any developing hazards, I could measure the height to identify the area in terms of elevation and windage my arrow must pass through in a simulation of the restrictions in space to shoot an arrow out of the window of the Priory Gatehouse. I had twenty arrows, all the same weight and design. Obviously the additional power supplied by a friend helping you shoot has a lower and an upper limit - the upper limit is not far from actually shooting the arrow himself with the restriction that he actually has his arms around you to reach this level of power. The practical experiment here introduced another hitherto unconsidered problem - what to do with the bottom end of the longbow ; we can’t saw it off as it is a necessary requirement ! Aiming to the right or left brings the lower end into contact with the no-go area of the bed or chair. Lying on a bed or sitting in a chair the bow can only be drawn by an archer and a friend helping him by having the upper part of the bow tilted to the left at least thirty degrees from vertical or by increasing the elevation which reduces the distance. This affected both the distance and direction of the loosing of the arrows.

One last bit of evidence to read, from an old hand-written document known as The Sloane MS, now in the British Museum : Robin Hood left for the Priory because he felt ‘… distempered with cold and with great pain in his limbs, his blood being corrupted …’ ; so the poor chap was already feeling pretty awful even before he arrived at the Priory and in addition to his weakness having then walked all the way from Barnsdale or Sherwood Forest, a distance of between 25 and 50 miles. Add to this loss of blood followed by a deadly sword-fight, a wound from an edged weapon, ensuing shock and a high fever … maybe I had all this on my mind as if guided by the hand of Providence - or someone related to them - the first arrow shot went too far to the right and dropped short into where the running water of the Priory brook would have been if shooting from the upstairs Priory Gatehouse window. The rest of my arrows that did achieve the necessary height and clear the ‘no-go’ area within 50 metres of where I was standing - simulating the buildings of the Priory - on average fell at a distance of between sixty and eighty metres away roughly within five metres of each other.

So; what have I proved ? The reader is perhaps thinking by now I’ve gone to a lot of trouble and an awful long way around to prove what was already well known before I started ; an English medieval arrow cannot be shot from an English medieval bow over a range of over six hundred metres.

Many travellers and visitors took time to go and see the grave of Robin Hood in the 16th Century and between the years 1600 and 1632 there was a great increase in the popularity of the English archer-outlaw which lasted until Victorian times when it leapt up in popularity once again. At least two visitors from the late 16th - early 17th Century described their visits and the actual grave in books and are the oldest recorded references to the gravesite outside the ballads. One of these visitors, a noted collector and archivist of historic, antiquarian and archaeological information who travelled extensively published a large book with maps containing his travel notes. His reference is rather obscure but if his description of the gravesite and a plan of where my arrows would have dropped if shot from the upper windows of the Priory Gatehouse using the criteria in this article are overlaid the arrows would fall in and around the area he described as the location of the grave of Robin Hood. No outlaw’s grave can be seen on this spot today but a grave from antiquity - described by the above antiquarian in the same account - is present.

The Death of Robin Hood

Deep in the heart of an ancient woodland in West Yorkshire, hidden beneath a formidable barrier of fierce thorns and dense undergrowth, there is a hidden grave. Here rest the mortal remains of Robin Hood, the Prince of Robbers. England's outlaw hero, bloodily slain by the prioress of Kirklees Nunnery 600 years ago, and cast into an unhallowed grave.

Today, Robin lies forgotten and unmourned in his lonely and desolate sepulchre for few people know of the grave's existence or its whereabouts...
Silhouette of Robin Hood statue
Robin Hood is more usually associated with Nottingham

The circumstances of Robin Hood's death are fairly well known. Realising he is dying, Robin decides to be bled by his kinswoman, the prioress of Kirklees, a woman "skilled in physic." Will Scarlet is against this, but Robin sets out on the journey accompanied by his faithful comrade in arms, Little John. On the way to the priory, they meet an old hag by a stream who curses Robin...

On arrival at the nunnery, the prioress takes Robin into the gatehouse and sends Little John away. She then proceeds to bleed Robin accompanied by her lover, the convent priest Red Roger of Doncaster.

When he realises that he is dying Robin summons Little John to his assistance by blowing three blasts on his hunting horn. When Little John arrives it is too late to save Robin, but he helps his beloved leader fire his last arrow from the gatehouse window, promising Robin that he will bury him where it falls. Little John vows to raze the nunnery to the ground and put all the nuns to the sword in revenge for the princess's vile deed, but Robin forbids him, reminding his distraught friend that it was their code never to hurt women.

Robin's grave, 600 yards from the (Kirklees) gatehouse - thought to be an improbable arrow shot for a dying man - is, today, neglected and overgrown and enclosed in rusted, twisted iron railings, erected in Victorian times. The inscription in pseudo-gothic reads:
Here underneath dis laitl stean
Laz Robert Earl of Huntingtun
Ne'er arcir ver as hie sa geud
An pipl kauld im Robin Heud
Sick utlawz as him as iz men
Vil England nivr si agen

Kirklees Priory

Kirklees Priory was founded in the 12th century by Reinor de Fleming, manor lord of Clifton, near Brighouse. The Rule was Cistercian and at first very strict but, as time passed, the White Ladies (so called because of their woollen habits) became less dedicated to the religious ideal. Many of them were the unwanted daughters of the gentry with no real vocation to the cloistered life. The sisters were often admonished by visiting bishops for indulging in worldly ways, keeping dogs..., going out dancing and for inviting men onto holy premises!

... In 1315 there were scandalous reports in circulation about the nuns of Kirklees. It was reported that one "Alice de Raggid, deceived by the allurements of frail fresh, in great levity of mind, hath gone forth from her house and had wandered, in great peril, having long ago put off her religious habit."

Later two more nuns, Elizabeth de Hopton and Joan de Heton, along with the rebellious Alice were accused of admitting both clergy and laymen to the "secret places of the monastery... from which there is suspicion of sin and great scandal arises." No wonder Robin came to a sticky end among such flighty creatures!

The nunnery was finally dissolved, along with other Yorkshire monasteries by Henry VIII in 1539, after which Kirklees Hall was built on the nearby hillside using the stones of the fallen priory. Only the gatehouse, where Robin died, was left standing. Today, like the grave, it is in danger of being lost to our heritage as it slowly crumbles away, unchecked and unhindered by any official attempts to prevent the deterioration.

The Riddle of the Prioress

Finally, why did the prioress kill Robin? Venesection, or "bleeding" was common medical practice in the Middle Ages. Many people must have died as a result, but it was an ignominous end for the swashbuckling Robin, whether by accident or design. The ballads state that the prioress and her lover, 'Red Roger of Doncaster,' murdered Robin in revenge for his opposition to the corruption in the Church.
robin Hood
Actor Patrick Troughton as Robin Hood in 1953

If it was murder, for whatever reason, it was a particular treacherous and gruesome act. It has even been suggested that, in the symbolic spilling of his blood, Robin's death could have been linked with pagan sacrifice, vampirism or Christ's death on the cross.


There is a fascinating mystery here, still waiting to be solved but until all the evidence is uncovered this part of Robin's legend will remain shrouded in darkness - Yorkshire's buried treasure in more ways than one.

You can find out more about Robin Hood and Kirklees Priory at Barbara's website

huddersfield ghosts

there are many famous ghosts associated with this northern textile town arguably
"BLACK DICK" the most notorious , he is said to have a number of haunts one being BAY HALL at Birkby another is BLACK DICKS TEMPLE between Mirfield & kirkheaton . SIR RICHARD BEAUMONT was a first cousin of Elizabeth the first ,Along with the ramsdens these were the two wealthiest & most influential families in Huddersfield . "Black Dick" was a gambler , bad debter , highwayman who indulged in popular piracy to pay off his debts . It has been speculated he murdered a servant girl in his employ after discovering she was pregnant with his child . He is thought to have been killed at the entrance to one of the tunnels beneath Almondbury in a duel over money . To this day people report seeing the spectre of Black dick most commonly on july 5th , the day on which he died

regional disalect as spake by Robin Hood

Addle To earn
Agate At work, occupied with
Akkle To dress or tidy up
Avverbreead Haverbread made from oatmeal when wheat flour was expensive

Baht Without
Balk A large beam or beam of scales for weighing
Bat Stroke; 'He's not struck a bat' - he's not done a stroke
Betty A guard placed in front of the fire to keep the ashes in
Billy A machine for slubbing cardings
Botch To do a job carelessly
Brass Money
Brokken Broken
Brussen Burst (applied to sacks); lucky (applied to a person)
Buffet A small stool
Bunt A bundle (of cloth)
Burl Pick small pieces of hair etc. from cloth
Buzzer Mill whistle or siren

Caird A card or comb for dressing wool
Cal Gossip
Capt Suprised
Causey A pavement, footpath
Chunter Grumble
Clammed Cold; hungry, kept short of food
Clicks Hooks for moving packs of wool
Cop Yarn spun on a spindle
Cropper Cloth dresser
Crozzil Hard cinder found in furnaces
Cut Canal

Din Noise
Do A commotion, a lively time
Dollypawed Left-handed
Donned up Dressed in ones best clothes
Druft A drying wind

Fadge Bundles of cloth or wool in a pack sheet skewered with wooden pack pricks
Fast Puzzled
Fearnaught A wool mixing machine
Fent A fag end of cloth, three-quarters of a yard beyond the length of a piece. Weavers used to claim this to clothe their children
Fettle To clean or set something in order
Fettler A machine cleaner
Flit Move
Fold A collection of houses standing in a yard
Frame To set about a task effectively
Fruzzins Hairs coming off the cloth when finished or from yarn when wound. Loose fluff, often under a bed

Gainest Nearest
Gers Grass
Gig A kind of knife used to remove knots from the cloth
Goit Channel cut to carry water to the mill
Ginnil A narrow passage between buildings

Hank Thread wound on a large cylinder. A hank of wool or cotton is 840 yards; 560 yards in worsted

Jacks Part of a loom
Jerry A finishing machine that removed rough surface of cloth
Jip Pain, punishment
Joss The master

Knock on To get on with a job
Koil Oil Coal place
Kop Catch

Lake To be idle
Leck or weet To wet as in wetting the cloth with stale urine to bring out the grease
Leet To meet with
Lig Lie down
Lithairse Dye house; lister=dyer
Lumb Chimney
Lurry A wagon

Maister Master
Middlin Moderate
Miln A mill
Milner Originally the one who put the cloth in the milling stocks
Mongi Idle
Mule Spinning machine
Mullock Mess or muddle
Muff Make a small noise
Mungo Old rags and woollen material, shredded to be rewoven

Nogs L-shaped pieces of iron placed on the beam to hold the warp
Noils Short fibres of wool removed by the combing machine
Noit Business
Nope To hit, especially on the head

Okker To hesitate
Olis Always
Oss To stir; move, to begin
Owt Anything

Paand Pound (£1)
Perch To examine cloth by putting it over a rod, pole or perch, in order to remove burls or motes
Pick To throw the shuttle
Piggin A lading can or small vessel
Poise Kick
Porty woof Forty threads
Pund Pound (lb) weight

Rordin A Riding; a third part
Rovin In wool spinning where the filaments are drawn out to a greater length
Rush A festival

Saig Saw
Saigins Sawdust
Sam To pick up or gather
Scribble To give the first rough carding to wool or cotton
Shauve Slice (of bread)
Shiftless Helpless
Shivvins Small bits of wood in the wool or bits off the yarn (shavings)
Shoddy Waste material thrown off by machines, used for low priced cloth
Skep or skip A willow basket
Skitter To hurry one's work
Sliver A long carding of wool
Slub To draw out cardings into greater length
Sluffed Disappointed, distressed
Stamperds The four posts supporting a loom
Stocks Part of milling machinery
Strinkle To scatter or sprinkle
Sumpoil Place to which surplus liquids flow

Taew To strive
Tail goit Channel from the mill
Tenter Frame for stretching cloth to dry on tenter hooks
Thoil To bear; endure; not begrudge; spare
Throng Busy
Thrum The ends 0f the warp cut off from a piece of cloth
Thump Local name for a feast or fair
Tig To touch (as in childrens games)
Toit To keep in toil; to keep in good order
Tuner One who tunes or sets the looms for weaving

Ummer Local word for Hell

Wanty A girth for a pack horse
Wappy Quick; a short cut
Wassock Daft
Wind To wind bobbins
Wim wam An impulse or fancy
Winteredge Winter hedge; clothes horse
Wit Commonsense
Worsit Worsted
Wom Home

Yark To jerk; pull or snatch

Castle Hill Earthworks

Castle Hill Earthworks
Kirklees Park
Wakefield Road
Brighouse
West Yorkshire

DESCRIPTION OF SITE

Site visit: 13/JUN/1935

This small camp stands on an eminence overlooking a ford over the River Calder. The western side has disappeared, probably when the turnpike road was made. The rampart has also been levelled on its northern side. This camp, though small (about 70yds square), was evidently of some strategic importance.

Site visit: 10/SEP/1986

The enclosure known as Kirklees Park Camp is situated in a good defensive position on a hilltop with a steep descent on the S side. This appears to be a univallate hillfort roughly rectangular in shape with a rampart about 3ft-4ft high. In places stones show through the bank, mainly sandstone cobbles. These appear to be arranged in an orderly row in some places and not just randomly heaped. The internal area is more or less level but now so overgrown that it is not possible to distinguish any features. In the centre is a C19th ivy-clad tower bearing the date MCM. The hilltop to the E of the enclosure is a small plateau which could have been useful for grazing animals in prehistoric times. There are other interesting features close by: for example there is a possible tumulus about 200yds NE of the site. In the wood about 200yds the the E is a small rectangular enclosure, 12ft by 8ft with a low wall topped by railings and four fluted pillars at the corners. Within this enclosure is a large fragment of a stone slab with a faint carving on it which looks like part of a cross shaft. This is reputed to be Robin Hood's grave. Local legend has it that he died at Kirklees Priory, the ruins of which lie about 250yds N of the camp. Robin Hood is said to have fired his last shot through the priory window declaring that where it fell he wished to be buried. The story is certainly in typical Robin Hood style but whether there is any authenticity about the grave (??). The priory site is not yet scheduled. Little remains except what appears to be the gatehouse, the foundations of the church and possibly a barn

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION

make a FREEDOM OF INFORMATION request to the BBC

templars conspiracy

slow moves

Do you believe in a GRAND CONSPIRACY ? Do you believe that government is corrupt ? If so, then to what DEGREE ? That may depend on how willing you are to open your eyes and mind to SEE. Why is it that the more things change, the more they stay the same ? Why doesn't society ever seem to grow up ? Most people grow up thinking that the world is very big and we believe the world exists the way it does today because this is the direction humanity has taken and chosen.

The road that we are taking as a nation in America and as a human race on the planet Earth is being paved for us in advance and sold to us for a profit.

Many people talk about conspiracies such as WATERGATE, IRAN-CONTRA, THE S & L (Savings and Loan) SCANDAL, THE FEDERAL RESERVE, OCTOBER SURPRISE, KENNEDY, THE FREEMASONS, THE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS and THE TRILATERAL COMMISSION, and even GREY ALIENS, but very few people know the real facts enough to explain them because they are not researched themselves. As information comes down the pipeline it becomes distorted and confused because most of the people passing along the information do not know the entire story, they have not researched much information themselves, and they tend to be biased as well. (They tend to have an angle in the information they put out, usually because they have an ulterior motive. ) I can only state from research of seven years, WHAT I BELIEVE to be the TRUTH based on mostly HARD FACTS.

For AT LEAST five- to ten thousand years, mankind has been aware of MORE scientific and spiritual facts than we are currently aware of today as a great society and nation. The libraries of Alexandria, which held the collection of the world's greatest knowledge, existed in Egypt thousands of years ago. The Essenes were just one secret sect of Gnostics (Knowledge Holders) that existed around two thousand years ago. Since the earliest times of Pagan groups and Nature religions, the SUN has been considered a SYMBOL for LIFE. The Ancients believed that when the SUN gave off it's energy, it was giving IT'S life for US. They believed that the SUN of GOD, the LIGHT of the WORLD is ALL SALVATION because He has RISEN. He is therefore our ETERNAL SAVIOR. There has always been a struggle between LIGHT and DARK forces in the world. When the SUN goes down and it becomes DARK, we cannot SEE. We naturally fear what we do not know and since we cannot SEE in the DARK, we do not know what's there and we fear. When the SUN would SET (Satan), it would get DARK. But when the SUN was on the HORIZON (Horus, translates to Jesus), it would be called THE SAVIOR. This formed the basis for early Christianity.

is this where you live ?

The Essenes, as well as other secret societies around the times were PRIESTHOODS, so the early CHURCH was an established KNOWLEDGE CENTER with IDEAS ENCODED SYMBOLICALLY into religious text. After time, symbols lose their meaning except to those whom are INITIATED. Essentially, they held knowledge of ARCHETYPAL ENERGIES that bond or link Spirit to matter. These energies are expressed in mathematics and Greek Gematria called SACRED GEOMETRY. The word OCCULT means HIDDEN. They took the knowledge, hid it, and made it appear to be EVIL, so that they would know it, we wouldn't, and they could then control us a lot easier. This allowed an early guild of bricklayers, or MASONS, to be established, making it possible to build great pyramids, etc. Now, if everybody knew how to build a pyramid, then not only would the Pharaoh's tomb be no greater than Joe neighbor's cottage, but the Masons would also lose a lot of money building great castles and churches throughout Europe. This was the basis for early CAPITALISM, but we will discuss this later.

SACRED MUSHROOM ingesting and CANNABIS-smoking shamans are tribe spirit leaders in a sense and they practice inducing a state of consciousness in warrior tribesmen to temporarily replace their consciousness with animal consciousness to perform certain tasks or learn spiritual lessons or principles. There were special groups of assassin cults that were trained in earlier times using substances like hashish and they were called "Hashishans" or "Assassins". Although these two practices are not identical, they are similar and related. While the first example may be considered early natural mind control in the sense of learning to control your own mind, the second example could be considered manipulative mind control in the sense that the participants were trained under hallucinogens to kill for God or "Allah".

The Assassins, as well as a society called The Order of Lady of Sion appeared at the same time around 1090 AD. Out of The Order of Lady of Sion came Notre Dame de Sion and five out of nine of the founders of the KNIGHTS TEMPLAR came from this order. The Templars and Assassins had interlocking affairs and philosophies. They also had ongoing fights as well as commercial dealings. The Templars pronounced vows to poverty and in the meantime amassed great fortunes for the church (really themselves), and were responsible for financing the Crusades and other bloody religious wars. They were also some of the first to set up banks in Jerusalem. These were Temple Banks which occasionally were raided for their gold. This forced the Templars to develop branch banking, or, putting your money in several places so it doesn't all get taken at once. This is where the idea of a central bank and it's local branches comes from, which became the model for banking in Europe and America. The Knights Templar became more popular when they were exposed in the fourteenth century and banished by the king. Jacques de Moley was burned at the stake for being a homosexual and a heretic. A portion of the Templar's wealth was seized by the king and handed over to their sister society, called the Knights Hospitalers, who were a branch of the Templars responsible for medical facilities in the kingdom. There is evidence to suggest that the Templars may have carried themselves on as the Rosicrucians for the next couple of centuries. This really doesn't matter too much, though, because all of these orders or secret societies are offshoots of other ones. They are all Masonic in nature because of the nature of the information which they possess.

the youtube factor on google robin hoods grave

robin hoods grave external links
the videos

recent Robin Hood conspiracies aka naughty nuns & bossy bishops

On Friday Colin H***r phoned me from his home in Exeter to say he was coming to Brighouse on Saturday arriving at 6 pm in Brighouse Bus Station. He did not say why he was coming but as he had contacted me in the past, via the Internet, about Robin Hood's Grave at Kirklees I assumed he wanted to see this grave two miles outside Brighouse. I thought it was very short notice however to arrange this and come all the way from Exeter.. He said he would get a b and b to stay on arrival. He also phoned my friend Catherine Fearnley and intimated he hoped to stay at my house! Naturally this was out of the question and I was annoyed at his assumption.

C stayed at my house until 10 pm Saturday as we were both a bit uneasy about the situation. We thought he had changed his mind as he did not phone to say he had arrived so I took C home to Batley. At around 12 midnight I heard someone knock on my door and assumed it was Mr H***r. I did not answer. Then my back security light went on. The next day a found a note in my letter box from Mr H***r saying he had called. I was very annoyed at this as I considered it inappropriate and threatening. Also, on checking the next day , I realised that Mr H***r would have to have been standing right under my bedroom window to activate the security light.

On Sunday I went to visit a friend. C phoned me to say Mr H***r had turned up at her house at 7. 30 am and given her some bondage things which she had thrown away. He then said he was going back to Brighouse for breakfast and was going to mass at Brighouse Catholic Church. C agreed to meet him at the Black Bull, where he was staying, that afternoon for one hour. Her father took her and she said Mr H***r had behaved oddly and burst into tears on one occasion. He said he was a defrocked priest, had been in prison and had 12 children. When I got back from my friends I felt uneasy that he might come up to my house again so I went to bed and put out all the lights. Around 11.30 pm I heard noises outside my front door but nothing more, though again I was awake most of the night. The next day , Monday ,I found a tin of sweets on my bird table and a note saying from Colin I went to work and when I returned home found a letter through my letter box saying he had enjoyed seeing my car and house and hoped I enjoyed the sweets. As I did not want another anxious night I rang the Black Bull to see whether he had gone back to Exeter but the manageress refused to discuss my concerns and said her guests were all highly confidential information. I said that I did not want Mr H***r creeping round my house again and I would ring the police if he did .Also, it might be helpful for her to know if she had someone a bit strange staying under her roof. She was obstructive and rude so I rang the police as I did not want another night with Mr H***r lurking around my house. The police said they said they would visit, but they did not as they were too busy . However, Mr H***r did not pay me a visit on Monday night to my relief. On Tuesday Catherine phoned me to say Mr H***r had phoned her at 6. 30 am and talked about blowing Robin Hoods Grave up and murder (?) and he also said that he had been playing croquet on the lawn with Lady A . C phoned David Hepworth, Lady Armytage's unofficial bodyguard to inform him. He said Lady Armytage had told him that Mr H***r had visited her for an hour on Sunday with two nuns.

I am aware that Mr H***r suffers from manic depressive psychosis which may explain some of his bizarre actions . I did not want a fuss or to cause him any problems if his actions were basically harmless thoughtlessness . C and I only know him from his website and due to his interest in Robin Hood's Grave which he had e mailed us about in the past on a few occasions. It is not unusual for people to travel to Brighouse to meet us, with arrangements made before hand to meet up in a public place. This sudden visitation seems bizarre and sinister and neither of us can understand why he
came all this way at such short notice, with no guarantee of being allowed to see the grave. We would be interested to know why Lady Armytage allowed him to stay on her property with these nuns and who they were, as she usually sends uninvited visitors packing. In view of the talk of explosions, murder and the stalking of myself and Catherine, I would appreciate an investigation into the matter as neither of us want him on our doorsteps again and we feel that there is something very funny going on.

the Yorkshire Robin Hood Society

Barbara Green
is one of the leading researchers/authors on Robin Hood
I highly recomend visiting her website

nobody does more to raise awareness of Robin Hoods YORKSHIRE roots
I would also like to thank Barbara for taking the time to contact me ,
its quite an honour ,
Elizabeth de Stanton is not the murderess .
She is however remembered with an ornate celtic cross ,
currently in Lady A. garden .
the discourse tabled above is a lively thread on Robin Hood .