Robin Hood and Little John (St Clement Danes)

From International Robin Hood Bibliography
Locality
Coordinate Near 51.513723, -0.113499
Adm. div. Middlesex, now Greater London
Vicinity South end of the Royal Courts of Justice
Type Public house
Interest Robin Hood name
Status Defunct
First Record 1747
A.k.a. Robin Hood; Robin Hood Tavern; Robinhood; Robinhood and Little John
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Approximate location of the Robin Hood and Little John.
The Robin Hood and Little John was probably located somewhere within the area now occupied by the Royal Courts of Justice / Google Earth Street View.
The Robin Hood and Little John was probably located in the area indicated by the red arrow / Adapted from Richard Horwood's Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster (1792-99) at Romantic London.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2020-06-20. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2021-01-07.

Also known as the Robin Hood (Tavern) and the Robinhood (and Little John), the Robin Hood and Little John was situated in a court on the north side of the stretch of the Strand where the main entrance to the Royal Courts of Justice now are. It was famous as the meeting place of the Robin Hood Society.

The present precincts of the Royal Courts of Justice were a warren of gutters and 'courts' in the mid-18th century. One such street, Newastle Court, evidently had a 'sub-court' named 'Robin Hood Court' after the public house. The members of the Societie for Free and Candyd Enquirie, established in 1613, had met for their weekly debating nights first at members' homes, later at a public house in Essex Street before finally moving to the Robin Hood in 1747,[1] and thereupon adopting the new or alternative name of the Robin Hood Society. While IRHB has as yet found no reference to this pub older than 1747, it is clear from accounts of the debating society that the pub was already well-established when it moved there.

See also the page on Robin Hood Court (St Clement Danes), for a more detailed discussion of the topography of the area, and the page on the Robin Hood Society.

Allusions

1751 - Pythagoras - Advertisement

From the Whitehall Evening Post.
Whereas an Advertisement was published in the Whitehall Evening-Post, on Thursday last, intimating that a Court of Common Sense would be held on Monday the 28th of this Instant, at the Sign of the Robin-Hood in the Butcher Row, for my Trial, requiring all Archbishops &c. to make strict Search for me, &c. with a Promise of clear Stage and all Favour: This is to give Notice, That as I never was fond of Them, so I never will be found of Them, not expecting any more Favour from a Gang of Robertsmen, assembled in the Butcher-Row, than from a Portuguese or Spanish Inquisition; but am resolved to abscond and hide myself till the Commencement of the Grand Milennium, when I will make a full Display of myself, like the Day spring from on High, and will mount the Shoulders of wicked Will. Wh–st–n, who shall carry me Headlong to Jerusalem, when I shall be found of all Men. CHRISTIANITY
  Witness PYTHAGORAS.
 N. B. The above Advertisement being sent on Saturday, was too late to be inserted in this Paper.[2]

Gazetteers

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Maps

Background

Also see

Notes