Sherwood (Eggborough)

From International Robin Hood Bibliography
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
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Sherwood near Eggborough.
Sherwood Hall was located in the area behind the hedge / Google Earth Street View.

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.

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