Robin Hood Bar (Baslow)

From International Robin Hood Bibliography
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Locality
Coordinate 53.2442, -1.5814
Adm. div. Derbyshire
Vicinity South side of A619, hamlet of Robin Hood, Baslow
Type Area
Interest Robin Hood name
Status Defunct?
First Record 1847
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The area formerly (?) known as 'Robin Hood Bar'.
This area near Heathy Lea Brook was part of Robin Hood Bar: A well-marked footpath follows the contours of the brook which runs through a steep gorge ahead / Jonathan Clitheroe, 5 May 2010; Creative Commons, via Geograph.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2021-02-07. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2021-02-08.

'Robin Hood Bar' was the name of a strip of land between the A619 and Heathy Lea Brook in the hamlet of Robin Hood, Baslow.

In the 1847 tithe award for the 'Township of Baslow in the Parish of Bakewell' are listed five plots of land under the collective name of 'Robin Hood Bar', with the duke of Devonshire, i.e. William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire (1790–1858)[1] as landowner and Thomas Savage as occupier:

  • plot #432: state of cultivation: 'Rough Pasture'; area: 1 acre 3 roods and 24 perches (7689.03 m2)
  • plot #433: state of cultivation: 'Rough Pasture'; area: 1 acre and 25 perches (4679.18 m2)
  • plot #434: state of cultivation: 'Oats'; area: 1 acre 2 roods and 26 perches (6727.9 m2)
  • plot #436: state of cultivation: 'Meadow'; area: 1 acre 2 roods and 24 perches (6677.31 m2)
  • plot #437: state of cultivation: 'Meadow'; area: 2 acre and 7 perches (8270.76 m2).[2]


All plots are contiguous, except that #434 and #436 are separated by #435, which figures in the tithe award as 'Engine Close' but would of course also have formed part of Robin Hood Bar (see map detail with the full area marked in shades of maroon and brown in the image gallery below). Also owned by the Duke of Devonshire, its occupier was a Benjamin Froggatt, state of cultivation 'Meadow' and the area 1 acre 1 rood and 1 perch (5083.86 m2).[3] Including this plot, the total area of Robin Hood Bar would have been c. 39.128 m2.

At its closest point, Robin Hood Bar is no more than c. 60 metres south of the Robin Hood Inn. The fact that this area does not include the plot north of the B6050 and the A619 on which the pub is situated, together with the states of cultivation of the plots, argues against the place-name element 'Bar' referring to the public house. It is of course conceivable that Thomas Savage, the occupier of these plots, was also the publican at the Robin Hood and that the strip of land acquired its name through this indirect connection with the public house. However, in our experience this would be unusual, just as one would not expect a country pub to be referred to as a 'Bar' at this time. Could 'Bar' here mean '[a] straight strip or stripe, narrow in proportion to its length, a broad line'?[4] It certainly cannot be described as straight. A rather better explanation is that the element 'Bar' referred to the toll house of the Chesterfield & Hernstone Lane Head Turnpike Road,[5] which was located more or less on the grass area immediately west of B6050 as it leads north from the A619 to turn east and pass the pub. 'Bar' would thus mean 'toll-house gate or barrier'.[6] Judging from the tithe map, the toll bar was situated just ten metres north of Robin Hood Bar.

Gazetteers

MS sources

  • 1847 tithe award for the 'Township of Baslow in the Parish of Bakewell', at the Genealogist, piece 08, sub-piece 020, image 009, #432-34, 436-37; and image 007, #365; image 008, #435 (subscription required)
  • accompanying map, online at the Genealogist, piece 08, sub-piece 020, #432-37; and image 007, #365 (subscription required).

Maps

Background

Also see

Notes

  1. Wikipedia: William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire.
  2. 1847 tithe award for the 'Township of Baslow in the Parish of Bakewell', at the Genealogist, piece 08, sub-piece 020, image 009, #432-34, 436-37 (subscription required); accompanying map, online at the Genealogist, piece 08, sub-piece 020, sub-image 001, #432-34, 436-37 (subscription required).
  3. 1847 tithe award for the 'Township of Baslow in the Parish of Bakewell', at the Genealogist, piece 08, sub-piece 020, image 008, #435 (subscription required); accompanying map, online at the Genealogist, piece 08, sub-piece 020, sub-image 001, #435 (subscription required).
  4. OED, bar, n. 1, I, 5 a.
  5. 1847 tithe award for the 'Township of Baslow in the Parish of Bakewell', at the Genealogist, piece 08, sub-piece 020, image 007, #365 (subscription required); accompanying map, online at the Genealogist, piece 08, sub-piece 020, sub-image 001, #365 (subscription required).
  6. OED, bar, n. 1, II, 13 b.


Image gallery

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