1790 - Hookham, Thomas - Tour of the Isle of Wight
By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2018-10-22. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2018-10-22.
Allusion
The town of Bishop's Waltham is a small, disagreeable, ill-paved, inconvenient spot, and possessed of no one requisite to make it otherwise. It received the name of Bishop's Waltham, from its being formerly a palace of the bishop of Winchester. [Vol. I, p. 106:]
Some years ago a party of the inhabitants of this town retired to a recluse dell in the forest, from whence they issued forth during the night; and, their numbers rendering them formidable, commitetd depredations in the neighbourhood, killing deer, sheep, &c. for their subsistence. As they chiefly made their appearance in thenight [sic], they were named the Waltham Blacks. The place of their residence was a recess, inaccessible by any other way than a subterranean passage. They dressed like foresters; the cross-bow was their weapon; and some say they asserted that they the descendants of Robin Hood; certain however it is, that they lived, like him, by plunder. In this licentious state they remained, a considerable time; and at last were dispersed by the activity of the neighbouring gentlemen.
We left Bishop's Waltham without regret, and crossed the forest of Wykeham [...][1]
Source notes
IRHB's brackets.
IRHB comments
For an expanded paraphrase of this passage, see 1792 - Anonymous - Account of the Bishop's Abbey at Waltham. Also see Robin Hood's Dell (Bishop's Waltham).
Lists
- Not included in Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), pp. 315-19.
- Outside scope of Sussex, Lucy, compil. 'References to Robin Hood up to 1600', in: Knight, Stephen. Robin Hood: A Complete Study of the English Outlaw (Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1994), pp. 262-88.
Sources
- [Hookham, Thomas]. Tour of the Isle of Wight (London, 1790), vol. I, pp. 105-106.
Notes
- ↑ [Hookham, Thomas]. Tour of the Isle of Wight (London, 1790), vol. I, pp. 105-106.