Robin Hood and Little John (St Clement Danes)

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Approximate location of the Robin Hood and Little John.

[[File:|thumb|right|500px|The Robin Hood and Little John was probably located somewhere within the area now occupied by the Royal Courts of Justice / Google Earth Street View.]]

The Robin Hood and Little John was probably located in the area indicated by the red arrow / Adapted from Richard Horwood's Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster (1792-99) at Romantic London.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2020-06-20. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2020-06-12.

Also known as the Robin Hood (Tavern) and the Robinhood, the Robin Hood and Little John was situated in a court on the north side of the stretch of the Strand where the main entrance to the Royal Courts of justice now are. It was famous as the meeting place of the Robin Hood Society.

The present precincts of the Royal Courts of Justice were a warren of gutters and 'courts' in the mid-18th century. One such street, Newastle Court, evidently had a 'sub-court' named 'Robin Hood Court' after a public house there which was known variously as the Robin Hood and Little, the Robin Hood Tavern, the Robin Hood tout court or the Robinhood. The members the of Societie for Free and Candyd Enquirie, established in 1613, had met for their weekly debating nights first at members' homes, later at a public house in Essex Street before finally moving to the Robin Hood in 1747,^[1] and thereupon adopting the new or alternative name of the Robin Hood Society. Whiel IRHB has as yet found no reference to this pub dating from before 1747, it is clear from accounts of teh debating society that the pub was already well-established when it moved there.

See also the page on Robin Hood Court (St Clement Danes), for a more detailed discussion of the topography of the area, and the page on the Robin Hood Society. 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. 293-311.

Sources

Anonymous. The History of the Robinhood Society. In which the Origin of that Illustrious Body of Men is traced; the Method of managing their Debates is shewn; the Memoirs of the Various Members that compose it are given; and some Original Speeches, as Specimens of their Oratorical Abilities, are recorded (London, 1764), pp. vii, xii, 3, 40, 91, 117.

Maps

Background

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Notes

↑ Anonymous. The History of the Robinhood Society. In which the Origin of that Illustrious Body of Men is traced; the Method of managing their Debates is shewn; the Memoirs of the Various Members that compose it are given; and some Original Speeches, as Specimens of their Oratorical Abilities, are recorded (London, 1764), pp. vii, 117.

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The Robin Hood Court was probably located somewhere within the area now occupied by the Royal Courts of Justice / Google Earth Street View.
Robin Hood Court was probably the area indicated by the red arrow / Adapted from Richard Horwood's Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster (1792-99) at Romantic London.

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[1] Anonymous. The History of the Robinhood Society. In which the Origin of that Illustrious Body of Men is traced; the Method of managing their Debates is shewn; the Memoirs of the Various Members that compose it are given; and some Original Speeches, as Specimens of their Oratorical Abilities, are recorded (London, 1764), pp. vii, 117.

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