Callis (Erringden)

Locality
Coordinate	Near 53.734, -2.0424 ?
Adm. div.	West Riding of Yorkshire
Vicinity	In Erringden
Type	Building
Interest	Local tradition
Status	Defunct?
First Record	1775

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Probable location of 'Callis'.

Callis / Google Earth Street View.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-07-31. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2022-04-22.

By the last quarter of the 18th century there was evidently a tradition in the Halifax area to the effect that Robin Hood had resided in a house at Callis, a locality on the south side of the Calder, c. 250 m south of Charlestown.

John Watson who reports this tradition puts his entry on Callis under the township of Sowerby.^[1] Callis is on the western side of Callis Wood, north of Erringden Moor. Among other localities in the vicinity with the element 'Callis' in their names are Callis Wood Bottom, Callis Bridge and Callis Nab.^[2] The early 25" O.S. maps listed below have a 'Callis Wood House' c. 200 m east of Callis. A large, still existing farm there is known locally as Callis House Farm.^[3] If not the farm itself then a predecessor was most likely the place where Robin Hood was said to have lived. Callis House figures in the records at least as early as the 16th century.^[4] Watson, whose sketchy account does not suggest detailed knowledge of this area, refers to the outlaw's alleged abode as the oldest house in the parish.

A. H. Smith cites a mention of 'my playces called Calys' in a 1571 will and explains Callis as '[p]robably a pseudo-manorial name from the surname of Adam de Calys' who figures in 1371; 'Calys' is said to be a transferred name from that of Calais in France.^[5] The tithe award for Hebden (1841) includes no mention of Callis (see Background below).

Gazetteers

Not included in Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), pp. 293-11.

Sources

Crabtree, John. A Concise History of the Parish and Vicarage of Halifax, in the County of York (Halifax: London, 1836), p. 412; summarizes Watson.
Watson, John. The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Halifax, in Yorkshire (London, 1775), p. 293.

Allusions

1775 - Watson, John - History and Antiquities of Halifax (2)

Callis. An house which some believe to be the oldest in the vicarage, and where tradition sais [sic] that Robin Hood some time resided; but no other marks of its antiquity appear at present, than that the north part of it is studded after the manner of building in former times. It might take its name from the Latin word Callis, which meant a path made by wild beasts in forests and mountains, and there was certainly fine shelter hereabouts for the deer in winter, and therefore a proper place for the residence of Robin Hood, who lived by his bow.^[6]

1836 - Crabtree, John - Concise History of Halifax (3)

CALLIS.
A house which some believe to be the oldest in the vicarage, and where tradition says that Robin Hood some time resided; but no other marks of its antiquity appeared in Watson's time, than that the north part of it was studded after the manner of building in former times. It might take its name from the Latin word Callis, which meant a path made by wild beasts in forests and mountains.^[7]