Sherwood (Eggborough)
Locality | |
---|---|
Coordinate | 53.716356, -1.130922 |
Adm. div. | West Riding of Yorkshire |
Vicinity | 1.75 km NNE of Eggborough |
Type | Natural feature |
Interest | Miscellaneous |
Status | Defunct |
First Record |
By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-07-14. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2021-08-01.
In what is now a sports and leisure facility on grounds owned by Eggborough Power Station[1] north of the village of Eggborough formerly stood Sherwood Hall, a country seat first mentioned in the records in 1605.[2] It was owned by a succession of gentry families until at least as late as the 1820's; by 1851 it was in the possession of a farmer named John Lambert.[3] It is not clear when the Hall was demolished, but the hamlet of Sherwood Hall that grew up around it is till found on an 1954 Ordnance Survey map.[4] It disappeared when construction of Eggborough Power Station began in 1962.[5] The Hall was built at the site of a wood which first figures in the records in 1175, as 'Sirewud' or 'Sirewude' and is mentioned frequently in subsequent records as "Shirwode", "Sherewoode" etc.[6] A. H. Smith derives "Sherwood" from "scir" and "wudu", the etymology thus being "bright wood",[2] which is also the generally accepted etymology of the name of the much more well known forest in Nottinghamshire.
The presence of a Sherwood c. 15 km NE of Barnsdale is intriguing. Could the Nottinghamshire/Sherwood Forest tales have been intruded into tales based in Barnsdale through confusion of Sherwood Forest with this Yorkshire Sherwood? It is possible, but we have no evidence that the Yorkshire Sherwood ever figured in Robin Hood tales or ballads, neither can we be certain that the Barnsdale based tales predate those centering on Nottingham and Sherwood.
Sources
- Dodsworth, Roger, compil.; Holmes, Richard, ed. 'Dodsworth Yorkshire Notes: the Wapentake of Osgoldcross [part VI]', Yorkshire Archæological and Topographical Journal, vol. XII, part XLV (1892), pp. 42-77; see p. 68
- Smith, A.H. The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire (English Place-Name Society, vols. XXX-XXXVII) (Cambridge, 1961-63), pt. II, pp. 57-58.
Maps
- 6" O.S. map Yorkshire 236 (1853; surveyed 1849) (Sherwood Hall)
- 6" O.S. map Yorkshire CCXXXVI.SW (1908; rev. 1904-1905) (Sherwood Hall)
- 6" O.S. map Yorkshire CCXXXVI.SW (1953; rev. 1950) (Sherwood Hall)
- 1:25,000 O.S. Map SE52 (1954).
Background
- RootsWeb: Bellwood-L Archives.
- Wikipedia: Eggborough.
- Wikipedia: Eggborough Power Station.
- Tomy Yates: Kellington Church.
Also see
Notes
- ↑ Eggborough Power Station was decommissioned in 2018 and is being demolished as of 2021. See Wikipedia: Eggborough power station (retrieved on 2021-08-01).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Smith, A.H. The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire (English Place-Name Society, vols. XXX-XXXVII) (Cambridge, 1961-63), pt. II, pp. 57-58.
- ↑ See RootsWeb: Bellwood-L Archives and Tomy Yates: Kellington Church.
- ↑ 1:25,000 O.S. Map SE52 (1954).
- ↑ Wikipedia: Eggborough Power Station.
- ↑ For a record dated 1202-1203, see Dodsworth, Roger, compil.; Holmes, Richard, ed. 'Dodsworth Yorkshire Notes: the Wapentake of Osgoldcross [part VI]', Yorkshire Archæological and Topographical Journal, vol. XII, part XLV (1892), pp. 42-77, p. 68.