View source for Robin Hood's Grave (Kirklees Priory)

__NOTOC__{{PlaceNamesItemTop|Lat=53.689911|Lon=-1.737342|AdministrativeDivision=Yorkshire|Vicinity=Kirklees Priory, Brighouse|Type=Monument|Interest=Robin Hood name|Status=Extant|Demonym=|Riding=West|GreaterLondon=|Year=1500|Aka=|Century=15|Cluster1=Kirklees|Cluster2=Brighouse|Cluster3=|Image=Anonymous 19xxzj-r.jpg|Postcards=|ExtraCat1=Places named Robin Hood's Grave|ExtraCat2=Places connected by bowshot|ExtraCat3=Place-names in Gest of Robyn Hode|ExtraCat4=|ExtraCat5=|ExtraLink1=Robin Hood's Death|ExtraLink2=Prioresses of Kirklees|GeopointPrefix=|GeopointSuffix=|StatusSuffix=|DatePrefix=''c. ''|DateSuffix=&ensp;([[Gest of Robyn Hode|''Gest'']])}}
{{#display_map:{{#var:Coords}}~{{#replace:{{PAGENAME}}|&#39;|'}}|width=34%|enablefullscreen=yes}}<div class="pnMapLegend">Robin Hood's Grave.</div>
[[File:{{#var:Image}}|thumb|right|500px|{{:Anonymous 19xxzj}} / HTN collection.]]
[[File:walker-john-william-plate-facing-p43-a.jpg|500px|thumb|right|Nathaniel Johnston's drawing of Robin Hood's grave / {{:Walker, John William 1944a}}, first illus. on plate facing p. 43. Public Domain.]]
[[File:Thoroton robert 1790a vol i between p170 p171 rhs gravestone.jpg|500px|thumb|right|Robin Hood's grave slab / {{:Thoroton, Robert 1790a}}, vol. II, plate ''inter'' pp. 170-71.]]<div class="no-img">
<p id="byline">By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-07-06. Revised by {{#realname:{{REVISIONUSER}}}}, {{REVISIONYEAR}}-{{REVISIONMONTH}}-{{REVISIONDAY2}}.</p>
Situated in a wooded spot within Kirklees Park, c. 650 m. SW of [[Kirklees Priory Gatehouse (Kirklees)|Kirklees Priory gatehouse]], in the grounds of the long gone [[Kirklees Priory]], this is one of the most well known and important localities connected with Robin Hood. As noted under [[Kirklees Priory]], traditions connecting Robin Hood with the priory go back at least to the late 15th century. It is possible that there was originally at Kirklees a grave in which a person named Robert Hood (or similar) was buried. If this was the case, the belief that this was the grave of the famous outlaw may have originated as an etiological myth, a myth of origins<ref>See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_of_origins Wikipedia: Myth of origins.]</ref>. It does not seem anybody was ever buried under the existing monument, but it is likely the original grave was located elsewhere within the priory grounds.

The garland version of the ballad of ''[[Robin Hood's Death]]'' (''c.'' 1767) includes the earliest version of the famous death scene where Robin Hood shoots an arrow at random, asking to be buried where it lands. Although the ballad does not say so, it was a widespread belief that the [[Kirklees Priory Gatehouse (Kirklees)|Gatehouse at Kirklees Priory]] was the scene of his death. Several other pairs of localities are connected in popular tradition through arrows shot by Robin Hood and/or Little John. See the page on [[Places connected by bowshot]].


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== Gazetteers ==
* {{:Dobson, Richard Barrie 1976a}}, p. 309.

== Sources ==
* {{:Roberts, Kai 2011a}}
* {{:Smith, Albert Hugh 1961a}}, pt. III, p. 5, referring to Greenwood's 1771 Map of Yorkshire.

== Maps ==
* Greenwood's 1771 Map of Yorkshire; not seen, but cf. A. H. Smith, ''loc. cit.''.
* {{:Jefferys, Thomas 1772a}}, sheet 7, row 3, tile 2
** [https://huddersfield.exposed/wiki/Jefferys%27_Map_of_Yorkshire_(1771)_-_sheet_7#customview=-192.1875:134.8125:4 web edition at Huddersfield Exposed, digitised by McMaster University]
* [http://maps.nls.uk/view/102345046#zoom=6&lat=9108&lon=14429&layers=BT 6" O.S. map Yorkshire Sheet 246 (1854, surveyed 1848-50) (at NLS).]
* [http://maps.nls.uk/view/100948199#zoom=6&lat=5202&lon=7398&layers=BT 6" O.S. map Yorkshire Sheet CCXLVI.NE (1894, surveyed 1888-92) (at NLS).]
* [http://maps.nls.uk/view/100948196#zoom=6&lat=5237&lon=7617&layers=BT 6" O.S. map Yorkshire Sheet CCXLVI.NE (1908, surveyed 1905) (at NLS).]
* [http://maps.nls.uk/view/100948193#zoom=6&lat=5355&lon=7285&layers=BT 6" O.S. map Yorkshire Sheet CCXLVI.NE (1934, surveyed 1930) (at NLS).]
* [http://maps.nls.uk/view/100948190#zoom=6&lat=5248&lon=7370&layers=BT 6" O.S. map Yorkshire Sheet CCXLVI.NE (1947, surveyed 1938) (at NLS).]
* [http://maps.nls.uk/view/100948187#zoom=6&lat=5288&lon=7206&layers=BT 6" O.S. map Yorkshire Sheet CCXLVI.NE (1949, surveyed 1948) (at NLS).]

== Discussion ==
* {{:Crump, W B 1948a}}.
* {{:Hepworth, David 2005a}}.
* {{:Hepworth, David 2005b}}.
* {{:Phillips, George Searle 1848a}}, pp. 29, 46.
* {{:Turner, Joseph Horsfall 1893a}}, pp. 198-205.

== Drawings ==
* Nathaniel Johnston's famous drawing of the slab formerly at Robin Hood's Grave is reproduced in most illustrated monographs on the Robin Hood tradition. The original is found in volume 16 of William Stukeley's MS Diary, among his papers in the Bodleian Library.<ref>See {{:Stukeley, William 1882a}}, vol. III, p. 500 (item No. 130). For access etc., see [http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/1500-1900/stukeley/stukeley.html Bodleian Library: Collection Level Description: Papers of William Stukeley].</ref>

== Background ==
* {{:Brentnall, Margaret 1963a}}, see p. 58
* {{:Stukeley, William 1882a}}, vol. III, p. 500 (item No. 130).

== Brief mention ==
* {{:Anonymous 1881c}}, see p. 229
* {{:Harris, P J 1950a}}. Asks if there are any other references to the William of Goldsborough mentioned by Grafton.
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== Notes ==
<references/>
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jefferys_thomas_1772a_sheet7_row3_tile2_excerpt.jpg|{{:Jefferys, Thomas 1772a}}, sheet 7, row 3, tile 2; [https://huddersfield.exposed/wiki/Jefferys%27_Map_of_Yorkshire_(1771)_-_sheet_7#customview=-192.1875:134.8125:4 web edition at Huddersfield Exposed, digitised by McMaster University]
Anonymous 19xxzj-r.jpg|{{:Anonymous 19xxzj}} / HTN collection.
Walker-john-william-plate-facing-p39.jpg|Robin Hood's Grave / {{:Walker, John William 1944a}}, plate facing p. 35.  Public Domain. Repr. from [[Turner, Joseph Horsfall 1893a|J. Horsfall Turner, ''History of Brighouse'' (1893), p. 202.]]
walker-john-william-plate-facing-p43-a.jpg|Nathaniel Johnston's drawing of Robin Hood's grave / {{:Walker, John William 1944a}}, first illus. on plate facing p. 43. Public Domain.
Thoroton robert 1790a vol i between p170 p171 rhs gravestone.jpg|Robin Hood's grave slab / {{:Thoroton, Robert 1790a}}, vol. II, plate ''inter'' pp. 170-71.
Walker-john-william-plate-facing-p41.jpg|Robin Hood's grave slab. See text in image / {{:Walker, John William 1944a}}, plate facing p. 41.  Public Domain.
walker-john-william-plate-facing-p43-b.jpg|Photograph of the spurious epitaph with faux Middle English text / {{:Walker, John William 1944a}}, second illus. on plate facing p. 43. Public Domain.
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