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The history of Robin Hood at Normandale House in Loxley


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Normandale House Loxley Sheffield.jpg

Normandale House in Loxley is of great interest to Robin Hood fans as the thinking now is that the famous outlaw was born here in 1160 and done most of his robbing from the rich around Barnsdale (between Barnsley and Doncaster) and even Nottingham isn't now disputing this one.

Normandale House is on the site of what was Little Haggas Croft at the top of Rodney Hill in Sheffield

Does anyone know it? Any more history known on this one that you can help with?

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I used to say that claiming Robin Hood was from Nottingham, was like claiming Churchill was from Berlin. The protagonists had their own separate camps. If it is indeed history rather than legend then maybe none of it even occurred in Nottingham. Wasn't Peveril Castle one of the good Sheriff's outposts ?

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As a young child we Were frequent visitors to the people who lived at chase farm, Loxley. I was always told, although they may have been pulling my leg, that Robin Hood lived at the bottom of black lane which ran behind Chase Farm

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There are several tales of Robert Hood, based on several real life people. They feature in different parts of the country. However it is true that Nottingham doesn't really enter into the stories.

What we do know about Robin the actual outlaw is that he was not the "good guy" of the Hollywood films. He simply rob from people, be they rich or poor and frequently killed them. If anything the Sheriff was the good guy, trying to catch this bad guy.

The love interest was not Marian, but Mary as in the religious angle and of course it was no love story. 

The "outlaw" was somebody not protected by the law. Very easy to become, since if you didn't attend a local court you would automatically be outside the law. Since land was owned by the Lord of the Manor you could be required to give testimony on say someone letting the cattle graze on land that didn't belong to them. If you made a living from doing anything on the land, testifying against the lord of the Manor would cause you problems. So it was best not to go. Even if you went it would still cause you problems. 

In the Yorkshire version of Robin, he did most of his robbing around Barnsdale, famous now for where Gardner's World was filmed.  

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It seems that no one really knows the truth, as I had always known that 'LITTLE JOHN'  is buried in the Church Yard in 'HATHERSAGE'. The grave stone has been there for years. See info online

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On 01/03/2018 at 11:52, Sheffield History said:

Normandale House Loxley Sheffield.jpg

Normandale House in Loxley is of great interest to Robin Hood fans as the thinking now is that the famous outlaw was born here in 1160 and done most of his robbing from the rich around Barnsdale (between Barnsley and Doncaster) and even Nottingham isn't now disputing this one.

Normandale House is on the site of what was Little Haggas Croft at the top of Rodney Hill in Sheffield

Does anyone know it? Any more history known on this one that you can help with?

Do we have a date for Normandale House? There normally is one. 

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On 03/04/2018 at 13:16, Heartshome said:

It seems that no one really knows the truth, as I had always known that 'LITTLE JOHN'  is buried in the Church Yard in 'HATHERSAGE'. The grave stone has been there for years. See info online

Does this site clarify things? I will answer questions if I can.

https://robinhood-loxley.weebly.com

 

 

 

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Another theory is that Robin Hood was actually Robert Hode of Wakefield who is a known character. In a Lay Bye on the A1 just north of the Doncaster motorway By pass there is a structure claimed to be "Robin Hoods Well". This location is Barnsdale and I am told there was a road from here to Wakefield.

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1 hour ago, Old rider said:

Another theory is that Robin Hood was actually Robert Hode of Wakefield who is a known character. In a Lay Bye on the A1 just north of the Doncaster motorway By pass there is a structure claimed to be "Robin Hoods Well". This location is Barnsdale and I am told there was a road from here to Wakefield.

Robin Hood's Well is at the site of a Roman Fort on Watling Street. Later it became a gathering point for robbers where they waylaid travellers on their way to York and so became known as Robin Hood's (plural) Well.

Robin Hood, or better still "Robert Hode" was one man.

The legendary hero is Robin of Loxley, not Robin of Wakefield.

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49 minutes ago, lysander said:

An interesting website is...

www.irhb.org/wiki/index,php

The requested URL /wiki/index,php was not found on this server.

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46 minutes ago, lysander said:

Whoops...worked for me. Try Googling  Robin Hood International Bibliography

https://www.irhb.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

I'm familiar with them. They have zero interest in the legendary Robin of Loxley, instead they are into the fictional robin hood, books, mythology, the Green Man, folklore, comics, plays, poems, and films etc., in a nutshell, fantasy. If you like that sort of thing all well and good.

Another thing is, people use Robin Hood as a political tool, for example:-

Quote

Robin Hood fights poverty in New York City. We find, fund, and create the most effective programs across the city — schools, food pantries, homeless shelters, job training centers, health facilities, legal clinics, and more — to provide low-income New Yorkers with the tools they need to build better lives.

https://www.robinhood.org/annual-report-2017/

Not what this thread is about.

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I always understood that the legend of Robin Hood, whilst based on historical events (certainly more than one), has been enlivened over the centuries to become, effectively, almost a work of fiction/fantasy. Barnsley claims him,as does Sheffield's Loxley ( a place I know well having lived there) Doncaster even named their airport after him and Nottingham bellowed that he was theirs. One thing is for sure, he wasn't a southerner! Robin Hood has been used, politically, for centuries...as witness the then contemporary claims of unfavourable treatment of the indigenous Anglo-Saxons by their Norman overlords and ,currently, the potential use of taxation to charge the rich with a greater share as being an act worthy of Robin Hood.

Isn't it true that the French also have a Robin Hood character?

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3 hours ago, lysander said:

I always understood that the legend of Robin Hood, whilst based on historical events (certainly more than one), has been enlivened over the centuries to become, effectively, almost a work of fiction/fantasy. Barnsley claims him,as does Sheffield's Loxley ( a place I know well having lived there) Doncaster even named their airport after him and Nottingham bellowed that he was theirs. One thing is for sure, he wasn't a southerner! Robin Hood has been used, politically, for centuries...as witness the then contemporary claims of unfavourable treatment of the indigenous Anglo-Saxons by their Norman overlords and ,currently, the potential use of taxation to charge the rich with a greater share as being an act worthy of Robin Hood.

Isn't it true that the French also have a Robin Hood character?

You are talking about Adam de la Halle’s Jeu de Robin et Marion (c.1283). This was a pastourelle romance between a shepherdess and her Jolly Robin which is a euphemism for a phallic object as in “Red Robin” bouncing up and down. (Use your imagination.)

I have this from a fellow researcher:-
“Recently I stated, perhaps unwisely, that there were a lot more (and less cryptic) references to show that Robin, whether ‘jolly’ (as in Chaucer) or ‘bonny sweet’ (as in tune), was slang for penis......” He goes on to explain.

An example of how mental the Robin Hood scene has become, is this bawdy song that has been moved from it's unsavoury French roots and blended into something resembling a modern day Hollywood production.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_des_Bois

Fiction, especially that sort of fiction, or the Hollywood version of it,  is not my cup of tea, but it appealed to the rustic French in their taverns. 

Read my site, it is far removed from all this nonsense. Get back to me if you have any questions.    https://robinhood-loxley.weebly.com

 

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Even at my age I still believe I should learn something new everyday and thanks to Robin I have!

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 As they almost sang when Richard Green was the TV hero of my childhood...

"Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen 

Robin Hood, Robin Hood ,with his band of ra*dy men

Feared by the bad, loved by the good

Robin Hood,Robin Hood".

springs to mind

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No one has mentioned "The Major Oak" at Edwinstowe.  We used to cycle there quite often.

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4 hours ago, peterinfrance said:

No one has mentioned "The Major Oak" at Edwinstowe.  We used to cycle there quite often.

This is my mum and dad on their tandem in Sherwood. They probably cycled there from Southwell where my father was born, or from Nottingham, my mother's home town.

A few years ago I uploaded loads of pictures to both PhotoBucket and Picasa but cannot retrieve them. Can anyone help? If I can recover the pictures, I have some of the Major Oak and more of an annual festival.

Mum Dad Tandom Sherwood(5).jpg

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The Major Oak has been dated and it would have only been a sapling at the time Robin was around.

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11 hours ago, History dude said:

The Major Oak has been dated and it would have only been a sapling at the time Robin was around.

We know. Story tellers myth.

 

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15 hours ago, R0BIN said:

This is my mum and dad on their tandem in Sherwood. They probably cycled there from Southwell where my father was born, or from Nottingham, my mother's home town.

A few years ago I uploaded loads of pictures to both PhotoBucket and Picasa but cannot retrieve them. Can anyone help? If I can recover the pictures, I have some of the Major Oak and more of an annual festival.

Mum Dad Tandom Sherwood(5).jpg

Robin is the tree that your parents are standing in front of the original Major Oak?  I was told that the Major Oak we see today is a different tree altogether.

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