View source for Robin Hood Inn (Little Matlock)

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{{#display_map:{{#var:Coords}}~{{#replace:{{PAGENAME}}|&#39;|'}}|width=34%|enablefullscreen=yes}}<div class="pnMapLegend">Robin Hood Inn.</div>
[[File:{{#var:Image}}|500px|thumb|right|The Robin Hood Inn on an old postcard / ''Sheffield History''<ref name=ukulele>[http://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic/3531-pubs-n-to-s-keepers-picture-links/page-12 Pubs N to S - Keepers, Picture-links (''Sheffield History'').]</ref>]]<div class="no-img">
<p id="byline">By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-08-07. Revised by {{#realname:{{REVISIONUSER}}}}, {{REVISIONYEAR}}-{{REVISIONMONTH}}-{{REVISIONDAY2}}.</p>
Around 1800, the Reverend Thomas Halliday, a local Unitarian minister and something of an entrepreneur, was so struck by the beauty, and similarity to Matlock in Derbyshire, of a spot along River Loxley then known as Cliff Rocher that he set out to transform it into Little Matlock, a name it  retains to this day. Not content with altering the name, Halliday, spending his wife's inheritance, had stairs and paths cut into the rock and let trees and shrubs plant in order to accentuate the similarity to the picturesque valley in Derbyshire. The area was then opened to the public and for a few years attracted large numbers of visitors from Sheffield every summer. 

In 1799<ref name=ukulele /> or 1804,<ref name=pub-and-paper>Cf. the pub's website, which is no longer online but archived (without photos) at [http://web.archive.org/web/20080511233751/http://www.robin-hood-loxley.co.uk/history.html The Wayback Machine]. Also see [http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/news/business/local-business/robin-hood-pub-slips-into-history-after-200-years-1-3733662 'Robin Hood pub slips into history after 200 years' (''Sheffield Telegraph'', Sep. 1, 2011).]</ref> Halliday built a house, one half of which was from the start used as a public house, the Rock Inn. However, the exact year is not the only point of disagreement, for according to the pub's website and a local newspaper article,<ref name=pub-and-paper></ref> the pub retained its original name till after the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sheffield_Flood Great Sheffield Flood of 1864] and was only renamed the Robin Hood at some later point. On the other hand, a user-edited Sheffield history site,<ref name=ukulele /> listing evidence from some thirty trade directories spanning the period 1833 to 1951, knows the establishment only under the names "Robin Hood" and "Robin Hood & Little John". Contributors to that site think the pub opened in 1833. To this we may add that there was already a "house of refreshment" in 1824 (cf. 1824 Evidence below) and that an 1845 trade directory<ref>{{:White, William 1845a}}, p. 376.</ref> lists the establishment as "Robin Hood and Little John, [proprietor] John Rusby, ''Little Matlock''". This latter source does not mention Rock Inn. Finally, we note that Harrison refers to the establishment as Rock Inn in 1864 (see Evidence below), long after it first appeared in the records as Robin Hood (or similar). Unless the Robin Hood and Rock Inn were in fact two different establishments, we must conclude that locals continued to refer to the Robin Hood as Rock Inn more than thirty years after it got its new name or that perhaps Harrison used the old name out of habit. In any case, the Robin Hood Inn closed on August 28, 2011.<ref>Cf. previously cited article in [http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/news/business/local-business/robin-hood-pub-slips-into-history-after-200-years-1-3733662 ''Sheffield Telegraph''.]</ref>

A brief list of proprietors for the years 1879 to 1919 can be found at Pub History.<ref>[https://pubhistory.co.uk//Yorkshire/SheffieldR/RobinHoodLittleJohnMatlock.shtml Pub History: Robin Hood & Little John, Little Matlock, Stannington, Sheffield, Yorkshire.]</ref>
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== Gazetteers ==
* Not included in {{:Dobson, Richard Barrie 1976a}}, pp. 293-311.

== Sources ==
* {{:Harrison, Samuel 1864a}}, p. 32.
* {{:Holland, John 1824a}}, p. 13.
* Archived pub website at [http://web.archive.org/web/20080511233751/http://www.robin-hood-loxley.co.uk/history.html The Wayback Machine]
* [http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/news/business/local-business/robin-hood-pub-slips-into-history-after-200-years-1-3733662 Sheffield Telegraph: Robin Hood pub slips into history after 200 years] (Sep. 1, 2011)
* [http://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic/3531-pubs-n-to-s-keepers-picture-links/page-12 'Pubs N to S - Keepers, Picture-links' (''Sheffield History'')]
* [https://pubhistory.co.uk//Yorkshire/SheffieldR/RobinHoodLittleJohnMatlock.shtml Pub History: Robin Hood & Little John, Little Matlock, Stannington, Sheffield, Yorkshire.]
* {{:White, William 1845a}}, p. 376

== Maps ==
* [http://maps.nls.uk/view/102345217#zoom=6&lat=8890&lon=5326&layers=BT 6" O.S. map ''Yorkshire'' 294 (1855; surveyed 1850-51)] (pub labelled "Robin Hood and Little John P.H.")
* [http://maps.nls.uk/view/100950065#zoom=6&lat=4873&lon=5738&layers=BT 6" O.S. map ''Yorkshire'' CCXCIV.NW (1894; rev. 1890)] (pub not labelled)
* [http://maps.nls.uk/view/100950062#zoom=5&lat=4838&lon=5915&layers=BT 6" O.S. map ''Yorkshire'' CCXCIV.NW (1906; rev. 1901-1903)] ("Robin Hood Inn")
* [http://maps.nls.uk/view/102345214#zoom=6&lat=9710&lon=5703&layers=BT 6" O.S. map ''Yorkshire'' CCXCIV (1924; rev. 1920-21)] ("Robin Hood Inn")
* [http://maps.nls.uk/view/100950056#zoom=5&lat=4942&lon=5614&layers=BT 6" O.S. map ''Yorkshire'' CCXCIV.NW (1939; rev. 1934-35)] (pub not labelled)
* [http://maps.nls.uk/view/100950053#zoom=5&lat=5017&lon=5519&layers=BT 6" O.S. map ''Yorkshire'' CCXCIV.NW (1947; rev. 1938)] (pub not labelled)
* [http://maps.nls.uk/view/100950050#zoom=5&lat=5159&lon=5436&layers=BT 6" O.S. map ''Yorkshire'' CCXCIV.NW (1949; rev. 1948)] (pub not labelled).
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== Notes ==
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File:Robin Hood and Little John Little Matlock Postcard.jpg|500px|The Robin Hood Inn on an old postcard / [http://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic/3531-pubs-n-to-s-keepers-picture-links/page-12 Pubs N to S - Keepers, Picture-links (''Sheffield History'')]
File:Robin Hood Inn, Little Matlock, Sheffield - 1 - geograph.org.uk - 971345.jpg|The Robin Hood Inn, Sep. 14, 2008 / [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/971345 Terry Robinson, 14 Sep. 2008, Creative Commons, via Geograph.]
File:Robin Hood Inn, Little Matlock, Sheffield - 2 - geograph.org.uk - 971355.jpg|The Robin Hood Inn / [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/971355 Terry Robinson, 14 Sep. 2008, Creative Commons, via Geograph.]
File:Accommodation at The Robin Hood Inn - geograph.org.uk - 971366.jpg|Accomodation at the Robin Hood / [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/971366 Terry Robinson, 14 Sep. 2008, Creative Commons, via Geograph.]
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