High Peak place-name cluster: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:30, 21 February 2019

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2019-02-21. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2019-02-21.

According to William Marriott, author of The Antiquities of Lyme and its Vicinity (1810), it would seem at least five supposed ancient stone monuments in the High Peak were connected in early 19th century popular tradition by Robin Hood's allegedly having shot an arrow from one to another. Alternatively, perhaps the traditions in question only concerned pairs of monuments, and Marriott connected them all in order, as it were, to construct a grand unified hypothesis on the origin of High Peak stone monuments. According to his account of contemporary traditions, Robin Hood shot an arrow from the site of the Bow Stones near Lyme Handley to that of the Dipping Stone at Whaley Moor, from there to Chinley Churn and thence towards the north to Robin Hood's Picking Rods (Chisworth) and towards the south to a locality Marriott called "Rough Low Tor", situated north of Buxton, south of Combs and west of Long Hill. From each of the two latter localities Robin Hood finally shot an arrow back to the starting point near Lyme Handley. Marriott suggested that the superlative archer responsible for these feats of flight shooting was not in fact 'Hood' – he tends to omit the first name – but instead some anonymous prodigy of the longbow who had been tasked by his master with encircling by this means as much land as possible, which he – the master of course – would then be granted by his overlord in recognition of his service at, perhaps, the Battle of Crecy. The stone monuments were then set up in commemoration of this. Marriott eventually discards this hypothesis in favour of the much less elaborate but also not very convincing one that the monuments were established in ancient times in memory of battles taking place at the localities only to be later connected with Robin Hood by a process which he in another context refers to as "[t]he agreement of the vulgar in credulity and formation of gross narrations".

For Marriot's lengthy discussion of these matters, see further 1810 - Marriott, William - Antiquities of Lyme and its Vicinity.

Localities in the High Peak connected by bowshot according to William Marriott:

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 __NOTOC__{{#vardefine:County|Derbyshire}}{{#vardefine:Cluster|{{Trim|{{#replace:{{PAGENAME}}|place-name cluster|}}}}}}{{PnClusterLandingSMW|County={{#var:County}}}}
 <!--[[File:_FILENAME.jpg|thumb|right|500px|_LEGEND / [_URL _LINKTEXT.]]]-->
-<p id="byline">By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2019-02-21. Revised by {{#realname:{{REVISIONUSER}}}}, {{REVISIONYEAR}}-{{REVISIONMONTH}}-{{REVISIONDAY2}}.</p><p><div class="no-img">Localities in the High Peak connected by bowshot according to William Marriott:</p>
+<p id="byline">By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2019-02-21. Revised by {{#realname:{{REVISIONUSER}}}}, {{REVISIONYEAR}}-{{REVISIONMONTH}}-{{REVISIONDAY2}}.</p><p><div class="no-img">
+According to William Marriott, author of ''The Antiquities of Lyme and its Vicinity'' (1810), it would seem at least five supposed ancient stone monuments in the High Peak were connected in early 19th century popular tradition by Robin Hood's allegedly having shot an arrow from one to another. Alternatively, perhaps the traditions in question only concerned pairs of monuments, and Marriott connected them all in order, as it were, to construct a grand unified hypothesis on the origin of High Peak stone monuments. According to his account of contemporary traditions, Robin Hood shot an arrow from the site of [[Robin Hood's Bow Stones (Lyme Handley)|the Bow Stones near Lyme Handley]] to that of the [[Dipping Stone (Whaley Moor)|Dipping Stone at Whaley Moor]], from there to [[Chinley Churn (Chinley)|Chinley Churn]] and thence towards the north to [[Robin Hood's Picking Rods (Chisworth)]] and towards the south to a locality Marriott called [[Rough Low Tor (Buxton)|"Rough Low Tor"]], situated north of Buxton, south of Combs and west of Long Hill. From each of the two latter localities Robin Hood finally shot an arrow back to the starting point near Lyme Handley. Marriott suggested that the superlative archer responsible for these feats of flight shooting was not in fact 'Hood' &ndash; he tends to omit the first name &ndash; but instead some anonymous prodigy of the longbow who had been tasked by his master with encircling by this means as much land as possible, which he &ndash; the master of course &ndash; would then be granted by his overlord in recognition of his service at, perhaps, the Battle of Crecy. The stone monuments were then set up in commemoration of this. Marriott eventually discards this hypothesis in favour of the much less elaborate but also not very convincing one that the monuments were established in ancient times in memory of battles taking place at the localities only to be later connected with Robin Hood by a process which he in another context refers to as "[t]he agreement of the vulgar in credulity and formation of gross narrations".
+For Marriot's lengthy discussion of these matters, see further [[1810 - Marriott, William - Antiquities of Lyme and its Vicinity]].
+Localities in the High Peak connected by bowshot according to William Marriott:</p>
 <p><div class="century">{{#ask:[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]|format=ul|class=ulcols|limit=1000|sort=Utitle}}</div></p><!--
 == Also see ==