Tag: Robin Hood

Sowerby Lad, Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire

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Standing Stone (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – SE 024 244

Archaeology & History

Standing stone on 1894 map

Also known as the Field House Standing Stone, this monolith seems to have gone.  It was first described in local Minister’s Accounts of 1403, and then again in the Wakefield court-rolls of 1515.  By the time John Watson (1775) wrote about the place there had been several other references describing this old “standyngstone”. It was still upright in 1852, but Ordnance Survey showed it as “Site of – ” at the beginning of the 20th century, and the stone had been moved a short distance away, further down from its original position to a spot at the side of the old trackway — but all trace of it has since vanished.

Folklore

This is thought to have been the standing stone which Robin Hood threw here, from the appropriately called Robin Hood’s Penny Stone at Wainstalls. The tale tells how he dug it out of the ground with a spade and threw it three-and-half miles across the valley until it landed here. Ooh, what a strong boy!

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann: Milverton 2001.
  2. Smith, A.H., The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire, volume 3, Cambridge University Press 1961.
  3. Watson, John, The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Halifax, T. Lowndes: London 1775.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Robin Hood’s Penny Stone, Wainstalls, West Yorkshire

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Stone Circle (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SE 046 288

Archaeology & History

The Pennystone on 1852 map
The Pennystone on 1852 map

All remains of this site, first mentioned as a stone circle in 1836, have gone. The place could be found by the appropriately named Stone Farm at the top end of Wainstalls and was first mentioned by John Watson (1775), who strangely said nothing about any circle here.  However, this changed when John Crabtree (1836) arrived and described a ring of stones surrounding a large boulder in the centre (illustrated here). The boulder itself was actually called the Robin Hood Penny Stone.

Folklore

Watson's 1775 drawing
Watson’s 1775 drawing

This was one of the many legendary sites from where our legendary outlaw practiced shooting his arrows.  He was also said to have picked up and thrown a large standing stone from this spot, until it landed three-and-a-half miles away on the hillside on the other side of the Calder Valley. (this was known as the Field House, or Sowerby Lad Standing Stone)

References:

  1. Bennett, Paul, The Old Stones of Elmet, Capall Bann 2001.
  2. Crabtree, John, Concise History of the Parish and Vicarage of Halifax, Hartley & Walker: Halifax 1836.
  3. Dobson, R.B. & Taylor, J., Rymes of Robyn Hood, Alan Sutton: Gloucester 1989.
  4. Faull, M.L. & Moorhouse, S.A., West Yorkshire: An Archaeological Guide (4 volumes), WYMCC: Wakefield 1981.
  5. Varley, Raymond, “A Stone-Axe Hammer, Robin Hood’s Penny Stone and Stone Circle at Wainstalls, Warley, near Halifax,” in Yorks. Arch. Journal 69, 1997.
  6. Watson, John, The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Halifax, T. Lowndes: London 1775.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian


Hood Hill Stone, Kilburn, North Yorkshire

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Legendary Rock:  OS Grid Reference – SE 503 812

Getting Here

From Kilburn village, take the north road up past the church for about 300 yards, bearing up the track on your left and walk up into the wooded hill a mile ahead of you.  It’s in there!

Folklore

In this region there’s a teeming cluster of druid, fairy, devil and spook-lore, along with numerous prehistoric remains. Not sure this site has such an archaic pedigree, though the creation myth told of this rock (marked on the 1st edition OS-map as an antiquity) seems to imply as such. Our old devil disguised himself as a druid many moons ago in an attempt to gain favour with the old priests, but was discovered in his plans and so, in anger, flew out across the hills carrying a great stone with him which he dropped from the skies and it landed where the Hood Hill Stone still remains. Also in anger he jumped down and stood on the great rock, and in doing so left his footprint impressed upon the stone. (There’s the possibility this is an unrecognised cup-marking – having not been here I can’t say misself).  Edmund Bogg (1906) also tells us that,

“The monk’s hood-like configuration of the crest is said to have originated its name. The busy tongue of tradition, however, says that the name commemorated Robin Hood who, with his merry men, affected the hill-fastnesses hereabouts; but the hill was named ‘Hode’ long, long before the famous Robin came this way at all.”

The same writer also told how,

“legend, too, has it that the happy valley just north of Hood Hill…was a secluded and sacred retreat of the druids, and at the introduction of christianity into these parts, a great assembly gathered to consider which of the two religions should in future be adopted.”

Yet another legend – and an old one, says Bogg – is “that when the dinner-bell rang at Osgodby Hall the stone rolled down for its repast, and regularly returned to the crest after the meal.”

It’s blatantly obvious that something of antiquity this way hides.  The “enclosure” shown on the modern OS-maps here could do with being looked at little closer.

References:

  1. Bogg, Edmund, Richmondshire and the Vale of Mowbray (volume 1), James Miles: Leeds 1906.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian