Robin Hood's Tump (Tilstone Fearnall)
| Locality | |
|---|---|
| Coordinate | 53.1349, -2.6371 |
| Adm. div. | Cheshire |
| Vicinity | N/W side of Vale Road, Tilstone Fearnall; c. 115 m S of Nantwich Road (A51) |
| Type | Prehistoric site |
| Interest | Robin Hood name |
| Status | Extant |
| First Record | 1936 |
By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2020-11-28. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2022-04-22. Photo courtesy Tim Prevett, via the Megalithic Portal. Tim, who produces and acts as consultant and lecturer on slow TV, kindly brought this place-name to IRHB's attention.
'Robin Hood's Tump' is the name of the turf- and tree-covered remains of a Bronze Age round or bowl barrow situated on the north and west side of a turn in Vale Road, about 115 metres south of Nantwich Road (A5) in Tilstone Fearnall, Alpraham parish, Cheshire.
During excavation carried out by W. J. Varley in the 1930s,[1] no burials were found in the barrow, which turned out to be constructed of sand and turf. However, a dozen worked flints were discovered. Two post holes and a pit at the northern perimeter of the mound were attributed to occupation of the site prior to the construction of the mound. The mound is c. 17 m in diameter, reaching a height of no more than 1.2 m[2]
The 'Tump' is included as an unnamed 'Tumulus' on the early 25" O.S. maps listed below. What is perhaps the earliest use of the name 'Robin Hood's Tump' occurs in an article by archaeologist J. W. Jackson published in 1936.[3] The plot on which the Tump is situated figures in the 1840 tithe award for Alpraham as 'Plantation',[4] while the neighbouring plot to the west is listed as Robin Hood Croft. The latter field name is thus in evidence a good hundred years before that of the Tump. We have indicated both plots on the adapted map detail included in the image gallery 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. 293-311.
MS sources
- 1840 tithe award for the township of 'Alphraham' (i.e. Alpraham) in the parish of Bunbury, online at the Genealogist, Piece 05, sub-piece 010, Image 006, #52a (£)
- accompanying map, online at the Genealogist, Piece 05, sub-piece 010, Sub-Image 001, #52a (£).
Printed and web sources
- Congress of Archaeological Societies, in union with The Society of Antiquaries of London. Report of the Forty-Third Congress and of the Research Committee for the year 1935, The Antiquaries Journal, vol. XVI (1936), (report enclosed in issue for October 1936), see p. 22; not seen but cf. PastScape above.
- Historic England: Robin Hood's Tump bowl barrow
- Jackson, J. Wilfred. 'The Prehistoric Archaeology of Lancashire and Cheshire', Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, vol. L, pp. 65-106, see p. 97; not seen but cf. Historic England ahove.
- Megalithic Portal: Robin Hood's Tump - Round Barrow(s) in England in Cheshire
- PastScape: Robin Hood's Tump
- Varley, W. J., ed.; Jackson, J. W., ed. Prehistoric Cheshire (Handbooks to the History of Cheshire, No. 1) (Chester, 1940), p. 48; not seen but cf. PastScape above.
Maps
- 25" O.S. map Cheshire XLVIII.10 (1875; surveyed 1873)
- 25" O.S. map Cheshire XLVIII.10 (1898; rev. 1897) (georeferenced)
- 25" O.S. map Cheshire XLVIII.10 (1898; rev. 1897)
- 25" O.S. map Cheshire XLVIII.10 (1910; rev. 1908)
- 6" O.S. map Cheshire XLVIII (1881; surveyed 1874)
- 6" O.S. map Cheshire XLVIII.SW (1899; rev. 1897) (georeferenced)
- 6" O.S. map Cheshire XLVIII.SW (1899; rev. 1897)
- 6" O.S. map Cheshire XLVIII.SW (1911; rev. 1908)
- 6" O.S. map Cheshire XLVIII.SW (c. 1935; rev. 1908)
- 6" O.S. map Cheshire XLVIII.SW (c. 1935; rev. 1908)
- 6" O.S. map Cheshire XLVIII.SW (c. 1936; rev. 1908).
Also see
Notes
- ↑ Historic England: Robin Hood's Tump bowl barrow.
- ↑ Varley, W. J., ed.; Jackson, J. W., ed. Prehistoric Cheshire (Handbooks to the History of Cheshire, No. 1) (Chester, 1940), p. 48; Congress of Archaeological Societies, in union with The Society of Antiquaries of London. Report of the Forty-Third Congress and of the Research Committee for the year 1935, The Antiquaries Journal, vol. XVI (1936), (report enclosed in issue for October 1936), see p. 22; neither seen but cf. PastScape above.
- ↑ Jackson, J. Wilfred. 'The Prehistoric Archaeology of Lancashire and Cheshire', Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, vol. L, pp. 65-106, see p. 97; not seen but cf. Historic England under Sources above.
- ↑ 1840 tithe award for the township of 'Alphraham' (i.e. Alpraham) in the parish of Bunbury, online at the Genealogist, Piece 05, sub-piece 010, Image 006, #52a (£); accompanying map, online at the Genealogist, Piece 05, sub-piece 010, Sub-Image 001, #52a (£).
Image gallery
Click any image to display it in the lightbox, where you can navigate between images by clicking in the right or left side of the current image.
Robin Hood's Tump, Tilstone Fearnall / Tim Prevett, 26 Nov. 2013; via Megalithic Portal; used by permission.
Robin Hood's Tump / Google Earth Street View.
Robin Hood Croft indicated in maroon, Robin Hood 's Tump in brown / Detail of 25" O.S. map Cheshire XVIII.10 (1898; rev. 1897) (georeferenced); reprod. with perm. of NLS; under Creative Commons Attrib. (CC-BY) license; adapt. Henrik Thiil Nielsen.
