Robinhood Field (Ripon)

Locality
Coordinate	54.130736, -1.534201
Adm. div.	West Riding of Yorkshire
Vicinity	NW area of Borrage Green, S of River Skell in Ripon
Type	Area
Interest	Robin Hood name
Status	Defunct?
First Record	1838

Loading map...

{"minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"mappingservice":"leaflet","width":"34%","height":"400px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":false,"defzoom":9,"layers":["OpenStreetMap","NLS","Stamen.Terrain"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":true,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","imageLayers":[],"locations":[{"text":"\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERobinhood Field (Ripon)\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E","title":"Robinhood Field (Ripon)\n","link":"","lat":54.130736,"lon":-1.534201,"icon":""}],"imageoverlays":null}

Robinhood Field.

Loading map...

{"minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"mappingservice":"leaflet","width":"34%","height":"400px","centre":{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":54.130736,"lon":-1.534201,"icon":""},"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[{"text":"\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERobinhood Field\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E","title":"Robinhood Field\n","link":"","strokeColor":"#FF0000","strokeOpacity":"1","strokeWeight":"2","pos":[{"lat":54.131157393499,"lon":-1.5337315012808},{"lat":54.130717345548,"lon":-1.5326425244208},{"lat":54.130396736241,"lon":-1.5332755257483},{"lat":54.130280436173,"lon":-1.533586661994},{"lat":54.130277292924,"lon":-1.5343269516821},{"lat":54.130343301116,"lon":-1.5350886990424},{"lat":54.130566470889,"lon":-1.5357270647879},{"lat":54.130758207341,"lon":-1.5360274721976},{"lat":54.130984518076,"lon":-1.5360274721976},{"lat":54.131056811522,"lon":-1.5353354622717},{"lat":54.131113388914,"lon":-1.5348902155753},{"lat":54.131119675286,"lon":-1.534477155387},{"lat":54.131173109411,"lon":-1.5339621712561}],"onlyVisibleOnHover":false,"fillColor":"#FF0000","fillOpacity":"0.5"}],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":16,"defzoom":9,"layers":["OpenStreetMap","NLS","Stamen.Terrain"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","imageLayers":[],"locations":[],"imageoverlays":null}

Robinhood Field.

Robinhood Field at the centre. The path oriented NE to SW more or less coincides with the boundary between the two areas listed in the tithe award / Google Maps Street View.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-09-06. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2022-04-22.

'Robinhood Field' was (or is?) the name of the north-western part of Borrage Green, south of the Skell in Ripon. The name is first recorded in 1838.

The tithe award for Ripon (1838) lists two adjacent pieces of grassland under this name, one with an area of 1 acre, 3 roods and 36 perches (7992.54 m²), the other 1 acre, 3 roods and 16 perches (7486.68 m²). The owner was an Elizabeth Sophia Lawrence, the occupiers John Lowley, respectively Christopher Nelson. The boundary between the two pieces of grassland roughly coincides with what looks like a path running NE to SW across the area on the Google satellite image (see below).

Could this be a relatively old field name despite being first recorded in 1840? The spelling "Robinhood" is not very common for a modern Robin Hood place-name, but it is of course possible that the field was named after an owner surnamed Robinhood. Robinhood Field is located c. 4 km NE of Fountains Abbey, which in additions to the traditions connecting it with the Curtal Friar/Friar Tuck has a Robin Hood's Park and Well. Ripon is now administratively part of North Yorkshire.

The trees lining Robinhood Field on the west and south-west, and a few other stands of trees beyond them, were known collectively as Robin Hood Wood in the mid-19th century.

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.

MS sources

• Ripon tithe award, plot Nos. 268 and 271 (The Genealogist: Piece 43, sub-piece 335, Image 323) (£). 1838
• Ripon tithe map (The Genealogist: Piece 43, sub-piece 335, Sub-Image 001) (£). 1838

Printed sources

• Smith, A.H. The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire (English Place-Name Society, vols. XXX-XXXVII) (Cambridge, 1961-63), pt. V, pp. 171-72.

Maps

• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire 119 (1856; surveyed 1849-53)
• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire CXIX.NW (1910; rev. 1907-1908) (georeferenced)
• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire CXIX.NW (1910; rev. 1907-1908)
• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire CXIX.NW (1930; rev. 1928)
• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire CXIX.NW (1947; rev. 1938)
• 25" O.S. map Yorkshire CXIX.6 (1892; surveyed 1890-91)
• 25" O.S. map Yorkshire CXIX.6 (1909; rev. 1908) (georeferenced)
• 25" O.S. map Yorkshire CXIX.6 (1909; rev. 1908)
• 25" O.S. map Yorkshire CXIX.6 (1929; rev. 1928).

Also see

• Ripon place-name cluster
• Robinhood place-names
• Fountains Abbey place-name cluster.

Notes

 West Riding of Yorkshire place-names 

 Yorkshire place-names 

 Place-names