Robin Hood's Dell (Bishop's Waltham): Difference between revisions
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"Robin Hood's Dell" was the name of a small wooded area on the northern outskirts of Bishop's Waltham, north of Butt's Farm Lane, east of Chalky Lane, and south of Beechen Copse. While the latter area is still wooded, there are no longer any trees at the site of the dell. A scarred area near the centre of the Google satellite image shown on this page would have been at or near the east end of the dell which extended towards the west, covering a kidney-shaped area about four times as wide as the scarred area. Judging from early 20th century O.S. maps, the immediate surroundings of the dell were also covered in trees at that time. About 130 metres to the southwest, near Butt's Farm, was a Butt's Dell. Some fifty metres NW of Robin Hood's Dell was a chalk pit. It seems possible that if there was a depression in the ground, as the term "dell" would suggest, this may have been the result of chalk extraction. | "Robin Hood's Dell" was the name of a small wooded area on the northern outskirts of Bishop's Waltham, north of Butt's Farm Lane, east of Chalky Lane, and south of Beechen Copse. While the latter area is still wooded, there are no longer any trees at the site of the dell. A scarred area near the centre of the Google satellite image shown on this page would have been at or near the east end of the dell which extended towards the west, covering a kidney-shaped area about four times as wide as the scarred area. Judging from early 20th century O.S. maps, the immediate surroundings of the dell were also covered in trees at that time. About 130 metres to the southwest, near Butt's Farm, was a Butt's Dell. Some fifty metres NW of Robin Hood's Dell was a chalk pit. It seems possible that if there was a depression in the ground, as the term "dell" would suggest, this may have been the result of chalk extraction. | ||
According to Thomas Hookham – see Allusions below – "Some years ago a party of the inhabitants of this town [Bishop's Waltham] 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." The small Robin Hood's Dell just north of Bishop's Waltham could only conceivably have served as the headquarters of a large band of malefactors if the area was then much more densely forested than today. On the other hand, if this was not the dell were they hid, the locality north of Bishop's Waltham must have been named Robin Hood's Dell in humorous commemoration of this dramatic episode in local history. The dell is included in all the O.S. maps listed below.{{PnItemQry}} | According to Thomas Hookham (1790) – see Allusions below – "Some years ago a party of the inhabitants of this town [Bishop's Waltham] 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." The small Robin Hood's Dell just north of Bishop's Waltham could only conceivably have served as the headquarters of a large band of malefactors if the area was then much more densely forested than today. On the other hand, if this was not the dell were they hid, the locality north of Bishop's Waltham must have been named Robin Hood's Dell in humorous commemoration of this dramatic episode in local history. The dell is included in all the O.S. maps listed below.{{PnItemQry}} | ||
== Gazetteers == | == Gazetteers == | ||
* Not included in {{:Dobson, Richard Barrie 1976a}}, pp. 315-19. | * Not included in {{:Dobson, Richard Barrie 1976a}}, pp. 315-19. | ||
Revision as of 21:51, 22 October 2018
[[File:|thumb|right|500px|Site of Robin Hood's Dell, Bishop's Waltham. The scarred area near the centre would have been at the eastern end of the roughly kidney-shaped dell which extended about four times as long to the west / Google Maps Street View.]]
By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2018-10-22. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2018-10-22.
"Robin Hood's Dell" was the name of a small wooded area on the northern outskirts of Bishop's Waltham, north of Butt's Farm Lane, east of Chalky Lane, and south of Beechen Copse. While the latter area is still wooded, there are no longer any trees at the site of the dell. A scarred area near the centre of the Google satellite image shown on this page would have been at or near the east end of the dell which extended towards the west, covering a kidney-shaped area about four times as wide as the scarred area. Judging from early 20th century O.S. maps, the immediate surroundings of the dell were also covered in trees at that time. About 130 metres to the southwest, near Butt's Farm, was a Butt's Dell. Some fifty metres NW of Robin Hood's Dell was a chalk pit. It seems possible that if there was a depression in the ground, as the term "dell" would suggest, this may have been the result of chalk extraction.
According to Thomas Hookham (1790) – see Allusions below – "Some years ago a party of the inhabitants of this town [Bishop's Waltham] 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." The small Robin Hood's Dell just north of Bishop's Waltham could only conceivably have served as the headquarters of a large band of malefactors if the area was then much more densely forested than today. On the other hand, if this was not the dell were they hid, the locality north of Bishop's Waltham must have been named Robin Hood's Dell in humorous commemoration of this dramatic episode in local history. The dell is included in all the O.S. maps listed below.Template:PnItemQry
Gazetteers
- 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.
Maps
- 25" O.S. map Hampshire and Isle of Wight LVIII.12 (c. 1869; surveyed 1866). No Copy in NLS
- 25" O.S. map Hampshire and Isle of Wight LVIII.12 (1896; rev. 1895) (georeferenced)
- 25" O.S. map Hampshire and Isle of Wight LVIII.12 (1896; rev. 1895)
- 25" O.S. map Hampshire and Isle of Wight LVIII.12 (1909; rev. 1908)
- 25" O.S. map Hampshire and Isle of Wight LVIII.12 (1946; rev. 1940)
- 6" O.S. map Hampshire & Isle of Wight LVIII (1871; surveyed 1863)
- 6" O.S. map Hampshire & Isle of Wight LVIII.SE (1897; rev. 1895) (georeferenced)
- 6" O.S. map Hampshire & Isle of Wight LVIII.SE (1897; rev. 1895)
- 6" O.S. map Hampshire & Isle of Wight LVIII.SE (1910; rev. 1908)
Background
Notes