Robin Wood Ground (Arborfield)

Locality
Coordinate	51.38284, -0.909493
Adm. div.	Berkshire
Vicinity	Immediately W of Eversley Road (A327); immediately SE of Robin Hood's Coppice
Type	Area
Interest	Robin Hood name
Status	Defunct
First Record	1841

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Site of Robin Wood Ground, Arborfield

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Approximate contours of Robin Wood Ground. Robin Hood's Coppice (roughly rectangular area) indicated more exactly.

This area on the west side of Eversley Road was known as Robin Wood Ground in the mid-19th century / Google Earth Street View

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2018-09-20. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2022-04-22.

"Robin Wood Ground" was the mid-19th century local name for an area in Arborfield lying immediately west of Eversley Road (A327), a thoroughfare which did not exist at the time.

The name is recorded in the tithe award for Arborfield (1841), where Robin Wood Ground is listed with Henry Simonds, Esq., as owner, Charles Goodechild as occupier, state of cultivation as "Arable", and with an area of 9 acres, 1 rood and 5 perches (37559.89 m²). An adjacent area known as Robin Hood's Coppice already in 1839 is currently known as Robinhood Copse. In view of this it seems highly likely that, whether or not it originated as such, the name "Robin Wood ground" was regarded as referring to Robin Hood.

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.

MS sources

• 1839 tithe map for Arborfield parish, online at the Genealogist.co.uk, Piece 02, sub-piece 007, Sub-Image 001 (£). (Robin Wood ground not labelled).
• 1841 tithe award for Arborfield parish, online at the Genealogist.co.uk, Piece 02, sub-piece 007, Image 012, Plot No. 286 (£).

Printed and web sources

• Gelling, Margaret. The Place-Names of Berkshire (English Place-Name Society, vols. XLIX-LI) (Cambridge, 1973; [s.l.], 1974-76), pt. I, p. 124 (and see p. 123 for parish).

Maps

These maps show the area, but Robin Wood Ground is not indicated or labelled on them.

• 25" O.S. map Berkshire XLVI.5 (c. 1875; surveyed 1871). (No copy in NLS)
• 25" O.S. map Berkshire XLVI.5 (c. 1899; rev. c. 1898). (No copy in NLS)
• 25" O.S. map Berkshire XLVI.5 (1911; rev. 1910)
• 25" O.S. map Berkshire XLVI.5 (1911; rev. 1910) (georeferenced)
• 25" O.S. map Berkshire XLVI.5 (1933; rev. 1932)
• 6" O.S. map Berkshire XLVI (1876; surveyed 1871-72)
• 6" O.S. map Berkshire XLVI.NW (1900; rev. 1899) (georeferenced)
• 6" O.S. map Berkshire XLVI.NW (1900; rev. 1899)
• 6" O.S. map Berkshire XLVI.NW (1912; rev. 1910)
• 6" O.S. map Berkshire XLVI.NW (c. 1934; rev. 1932)
• 6" O.S. map Berkshire XLVI.NW (c. 1944; rev. 1938).

Also see

• Arborfield place-name cluster
• Wood for Hood.

Notes

Image gallery

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  This area on the west side of Eversley Road was known as Robin Wood Ground in the mid-19th century / Google Earth Street View

• 

  Looking south from Poperinghe Way. The area beyond the fence was known as Robin Wood Ground in the mid-19th century / Google Earth Street View

 Berkshire place-names 

 Place-names