Robin Hood's Bower (Loxley, Sheffield)

Locality
Coordinate	Near 53.409133, -1.528923
Adm. div.	West Riding of Yorkshire
Vicinity	c. 5 km NW of Sheffield
Type	Natural feature
Interest	Robin Hood name
Status	Defunct
First Record	1637

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Possible, approximate location of Robin Hood's Bower and Moss.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-08-07. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2022-05-01.

The exact location of Robin Hood's Bower and Moss (a.k.a. Bower Wood) recorded in 1637 is not known. Misled by a cross-reference in A. H. Smith's eight volume work on West Riding place-names (English Place-Name Society),Dobson & Taylor suggest a location near the coordinates 53.446077, -1.466976, just north of Ecclesfield, slightly north of Ecclesfield Park. However, as Smith is well aware, the 1637 evidence makes it quite clear that the Bower and Moss were in or very near Loxley, immediately NW of Sheffield. The alternative name of Bower Wood probably gives us a clue to the approximate location, for at 53.409298,-1.530440, just at the south end of Loxley Common, slightly NW of Loxley House, we find Bower Cottage. Loxley Common was then as now a wooded area. Other researchers with firsthand knowledge also suggest a location near Loxley Common. S.O. Addy was convinced that the name Robin Hood's Bower referred to the sort of arbour that was sometimes set up at May games. That nearby localities came to be named Bower Wood and Bower Field suggested to him that the locality known as Robin Hod's Bower was used for May games on a more permanent basis. This is certainly possible, but the bower may also have been some kind of natural feature or perhaps an ancient monument. The site known as Robin Hood's Arbour in Maidenhead, Berkshire, is an Iron Age animal pen. Is there still a "moss" or bog in the area near Loxley Common?

Gazetteers

• Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), p. 308.

Sources

• Addy, Sidney Oldall. 'Robin Hood's Bower in Loxley', Transactions of the Hunter Archaeological Society, vol. II (1920-24), pp. 201-202.
• Harrison, John. An Exact and Perfect Survey and View of the Manor of Sheffield with Other Lands by John Harrison, 1637, transcr. and ed. James George Ronksley, introd. by R.E. Leader (Sheffield, 1908). Not seen.
  • Harrison, John. An Exact and Perfect Survey and View of the Manor of Sheffield with Other Lands by John Harrison, 1637, transcr. and ed. James George Ronksley, introd. by R.E. Leader ([Manchester], 2009). Not seen.
• Loxley Common: Legend & Murder at Andy Hemingway's Landscape Photography Blog.
• Smith, A.H. The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire (English Place-Name Society, vols. XXX-XXXVII) (Cambridge, 1961-63), pt. 1, p. 226, and see pt. II, p. 36; pt. VII, p. 73.
• Robin Hood Loxley at Robin Hood Outlaw Legend of Loxley.

Maps

• O.S. 1:25,000 map SK39 (1951).

Also see

• Loxley place-name cluster
• Sheffield place-name cluster
• Robin Hood's Moss (Loxley, Sheffield).

Notes

 West Riding of Yorkshire place-names 

 Yorkshire place-names 

 Place-names