Callis (Erringden)
[[File:|thumb|right|500px|On the Pennine Way, not far from Eastwood. Was Callis somewhere in the vicinity? / Google Earth Street View.]]
By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-07-31. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2020-04-10.
By the last quarter of the 18th century there was evidently a tradition in the Halifax area to the effect that Robin Hood had resided in a house at Callis, a locality on the south side of the Calder, c. 250 m south of Charlestown.
John Watson who reports this tradition puts his entry on Callis under the township of Sowerby,[1] Callis is on the western side of Callis Wood, north of Erringden Moor. Among other localities in the vicinity with the element 'Callis' in their names are Callis Wood Bottom, Callis Bridge and Callis Nab.[2] However, the early 25" O.S. maps listed below indicate "Callis Wood House" c. 200 m east of Callis, and this, or some long gone house in that area, is perhaps the best suggestion we can offer. A large, still existing farm there is known locally as Callis House Farm.[3] Callis House figures in the records at least as early as the 16th century.[4]
A.H. Smith explains Callis as "[p]robably a pseudo-manorial name from the surname of Adam de Calys" who figures in 1371; "Calys" is said to be Calais, the French town. Smith cites a 1571 will that mentions "my playces called Calys".[5]
Gazetteers
- Not included in Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), pp. 293-11.
Sources
- Crabtree, John. A Concise History of the Parish and Vicarage of Halifax, in the County of York (Halifax: London, 1836), p. 412; summarizes Watson.
- Watson, John. The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Halifax, in Yorkshire (London, 1775), p. 293.
Maps
Background
- Charlestown History Group: Callis Wood, Erringden and South Hillside.
- Smith, A.H. The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire (English Place-Name Society, vols. XXX-XXXVII) (Cambridge, 1961-63), pt. III, pp. 171-72.
Notes
- ↑ Watson, John. The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Halifax, in Yorkshire (London, 1775), p. 293.
- ↑ Smith, A.H. The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire (English Place-Name Society, vols. XXX-XXXVII) (Cambridge, 1961-63), pt. III, pp. 171-72.
- ↑ Charlestown History Group: Callis Wood, Erringden and South Hillside.
- ↑ Smith, A.H. The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire (English Place-Name Society, vols. XXX-XXXVII) (Cambridge, 1961-63), pt. III, pp. 171-72.
- ↑ Smith, A.H. The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire (English Place-Name Society, vols. XXX-XXXVII) (Cambridge, 1961-63), pt. III, pp. 171-72.