View source for Whitby Abbey

__NOTOC__{{PlaceNamesItemTop|Lat=54.488275|Lon=-0.607440|AdministrativeDivision=Yorkshire|Vicinity=600 m ENE of Whitby|Type=Church/monastery|Interest=Local tradition|Status=Extant|Demonym=|Riding=North|GreaterLondon=|Year=1779|Aka=|Century=|Cluster1=Whitby|Cluster2=|Cluster3=|Image=Whitby_Abbey_at_sunset.jpg|Postcards=|ExtraCat1=Places connected by bowshot|ExtraCat2=|ExtraCat3=|ExtraCat4=|ExtraCat5=|ExtraLink1=Robin Hood's Bay|ExtraLink2=Robin Hood's Butts (Canon Pyon) (1)|ExtraLink3=|ExtraLink4=|ExtraLink5=|ExtraLinkName1=|ExtraLinkName2=|ExtraLinkName3=|ExtraLinkName4=|ExtraLinkName5=|GeopointPrefix=|GeopointSuffix=|StatusSuffix=|DatePrefix=|DateSuffix=}}
{{#display_map:54.473585,-0.586752~Robin Hood's Close;54.472730,-0.585975~Robin Hood's Stone;54.472415,-0.584759~Little John's Close;54.472699,-0.585944~Little John's Stone;{{#var:Coords}}~Whitby Abbey|zoom=13|width=34%|enablefullscreen=yes}}<div class="pnMapLegend">From north to south: Whitby Abbey with the Robin Hood-related localities and artefacts at Whitby Laithes.</div>
[[File:Whitby_Abbey_at_sunset.jpg|thumb|right|500px|Whitby Abbey at sunset / [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whitby_Abbey_at_sunset.jpg 'Ackers72', 12 April 2009, Wikimedia Commons.]]]
[[File:Gasquet francis aidan 1908a whitby abbey.jpg|thumb|right|500px|Whitby Abbey / {{:Gasquet, Francis Aidan 1908a}}.]]
[[File:Charlton-1779-whitby-abbey-south-east.jpg|thumb|right|500px|Whitby Abbey / {{:Charlton, Lionel 1779a}}]]
[[File:Whitby Abbey - Project Gutenberg eText 16785.jpg|thumb|right|500px|Whitby Abbey / [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whitby_Abbey_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_16785.jpg 1909, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.]]]<div class="no-img">
<p id="byline">By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2016-05-29. Revised by {{#realname:{{REVISIONUSER}}}}, {{REVISIONYEAR}}-{{REVISIONMONTH}}-{{REVISIONDAY2}}.</p>
There are no Robin Hood-related place-names within or in the immediate vicinity of the ruins of Whitby Abbey, but a local tale connects the abbey with a cluster of localities that have Robin Hood-related names, just west of Whitby Laithes and ''c.'' 2.35 km SE of Whitby. Here are found [[Robin Hood's Close (Whitby Laithes)|Robin Hood's Close]] and to its immediate south [[Little John's Close (Whitby Laithes)|Little John's Close]]. As early as 1540 a stone called [[Robin Hood's Stone (Whitby Laithes)|Robin Hood's Stone]] stood in [[Robin Hood's Close (Whitby Laithes)|Robin Hood's Close]]. [[Little John's Stone (Whitby Laithes)|Little John's Stone]] may well have stood in [[Little John's Close (Whitby Laithes)|Little John's Close]] already at that time, but we have no direct evidence of this. According to Lionel Charlton, who gave an interesting account of these stones and fields in his ''History of Whitby'' (1779),<ref>{{:Charlton, Lionel 1779a}}, pp. 146-47.</ref> at some point in the early 18th century the two stones were moved to the edge of their respective fields, Robin Hood's to the south and Little John's to the north, so that they now stood very close to each other. This situation is also what is indicated on an 6" O.S. map of the area that was based on field work done in 1849<ref>[http://maps.nls.uk/view/102344254#zoom=6&lat=4641&lon=11823&layers=BT O.S. 6" map ''Yorkshire'' 32] (1853, surveyed 1849.)</ref> By 1881 the stones had disappeared altogether,<ref>{{:Atkinson, John Christopher 1879a}}, vol. II, p. 727 n. 1.</ref> and 6" O.S. maps published after this date indicate the site where the stones formerly stood or omit them entirely (see Maps section). In 1903 someone erected two replacement stones<ref>[http://www.hidden-teesside.co.uk/2009/01/03/robin-hoods-close-and-little-johns-close-whitby/ Hidden Teesside: Robin Hood’s Close and Little John’s Close, Whitby.]</ref> (see photos below.) An interesting story connects the original stones and the fields in which they stood with Whitby Abbey.

According to Lionel Charlton,<ref>{{:Charlton, Lionel 1779a}}, pp. 146-47.</ref> Robin Hood and Little John once went to dine with the abbot of Whitby. Evidently the abbot, Richard de Waterville, in office 1176-89,<ref>Charlton, ''op. cit.'', pp. 144, 147.</ref> was in the mood for a post-prandial archery exhibition, for he asked his guests to give him a demonstration of their prowess with the longbow. The two outlaws went to the top of the abbey where each shot an arrow that landed near Whitby Laithes, about 2.25 km SSE of the Abbey, "and in memorial thereof a pillar was set up by the Abbot in the place where each of the arrows was found, which are yet sanding in these our days [...]<ref>Charlton, ''op. cit.'', pp. 146-47.</ref>

Charlton leaves it up to the reader to decide whether he believes this story, acknowledging that it "will stagger the faith of many", but he cites as corroborating evidence the circumstance "that these very pillars are mentioned, and the ﬁelds called by the aforesaid names, in the old deeds for that ground, now in the possession of Mr. Thomas Watson."<ref>Charlton, ''op. cit.'', p. 147.</ref> The record cited below shows that [[Robin Hood's Stone (Whitby Laithes)|Robin Hood's Stone]] was known by that name as early as 1540, and Charlton clearly had seen similar records also mentioning [[Little John's Stone (Whitby Laithes)|Little John's Stone]] and the fields on which the pair of pillars stood. However, this of course cannot in itself be taken as corroboration of the story of how they got there. It would appear instead to be an obvious instance of an etiological myth, a myth of origin, but Charlton is almost certainly right that [[Little John's Close (Whitby Laithes)|Little John's Close]] and [[Robin Hood's Close (Whitby Laithes)|Robin Hood's Close]] were named after the pillars, for the stones are the features that stand out; once their true purpose had been forgotten, they called for an explanation. 

As for what suggested the names [[Robin Hood's Stone (Whitby Laithes)|Robin Hood's Stone]] and [[Little John's Stone (Whitby Laithes)|Little John's Stone]], if both arose at the same time, perhaps the fact that there were ''a pair'' of stones next to each other made someone think of the famous ''pair'' of outlaws. Moreover, Robin Hood's Stone was about 1.20 m high, while that of Little John was only about 75 cm in height.<ref>See Charlton's account and {{:Dobson, Richard Barrie 1976a}}, p. 307, ''s.n.'' 'Robin Hood's Close and Little John's Close'.</ref> It seems likely that the difference in height was part of the inspiration for the names for these stones. The name [[Robin Hood's Stone (Whitby Laithes)|Robin Hood's Stone]] was in use already in 1540, and in view of this and what has just been said it seems likely that both stones were in existence and were known as Robin Hood's and Little John's stones before 1538,<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitby_Abbey Wikipedia: Whitby Abbey.]</ref> when Whitby Abbey was disestablished during the calamity known as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Monasteries Dissolution of the Monasteries]. The story connecting the stone pillars with the abbey by the magic of flight shooting may also date from pre-Reformation times or it may have been invented at a time when the abbey buildings stood ruined, begging for their stories to be told. The evidence now available to us does not permit us to say with certainty that the names of the two fields and the stone next to [[Robin Hood's Stone (Whitby Laithes)|Robin Hood's Stone]] date, like the latter, from 1540 or before. Unless the records to which Charlton refers can be found, those three place-names cannot with certainty be traced further back than the 18th century.

I have followed Dobson & Taylor<ref>{{:Dobson, Richard Barrie 1976a}}, p. 307, ''s.n.'' 'Whitby: Robin Hood's Close and Little John's Close'.</ref> in referring to the two fields as 'Little John's Close' and 'Robin Hood's Close'. A couple of recent blog articles about the stones also refer to the fields as Closes.<ref>[http://www.hidden-teesside.co.uk/2009/01/03/robin-hoods-close-and-little-johns-close-whitby/ Hidden Teesside: Robin Hood’s Close and Little John’s Close, Whitby] and [https://megalithix.wordpress.com/2016/01/22/robin-hood-stone-whitby/ The Northern Antiquarian: Robin Hood & Little John Stones, Whitby, North Yorkshire] (Paul Bennett).</ref> However, most likely the original (colloquial) forms were Little John's Field and Robin Hood's Field. Charlton in the 1779 allusion uses 'field', and this is also found on all the 6" O.S. maps online at NLS (see Maps section below.) George Young (see allusion dated 1817) uses 'Closes', but this was probably inspired by the corresponding Latin term in the records he referred to. The English term 'close' strikes me as too technical for a folk-name.
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== Gazetteers ==
* {{:Dobson, Richard Barrie 1976a}}, p. 307, ''s.n.'' 'Robin Hood's Close and Little John's Close'.

== Sources ==
* {{:Charlton, Lionel 1779a}}, pp. 146-47.

== Maps ==
* {{:Jefferys, Thomas 1772a}}, sheet 4, row 2, tile 2
** [https://huddersfield.exposed/wiki/Jefferys%27_Map_of_Yorkshire_(1771)_-_sheet_4#customview=-121.625:126.1875:4 web edition at Huddersfield Exposed, digitised by McMaster University]
* [http://maps.nls.uk/view/102344254#zoom=6&lat=7144&lon=9756&layers=BT 6" O.S. map Yorkshire 32]] (1853, surveyed 1849)
* [http://maps.nls.uk/view/100942124#zoom=5&lat=3182&lon=2878&layers=BT 6" O.S. map Yorkshire XXXII.NE]] (1895, surveyed 1891-92)
* [http://maps.nls.uk/view/100942121#zoom=5&lat=3240&lon=2979&layers=BT 6" O.S. map Yorkshire XXXII.NE]] (1919, surveyed 1910-11)
* [http://maps.nls.uk/view/100942118#zoom=5&lat=3154&lon=2952&layers=BT 6" O.S. map Yorkshire XXXII.NE]] (1930, surveyed 1927)
* [http://maps.nls.uk/view/100942115#zoom=5&lat=3026&lon=3081&layers=BT 6" O.S. map Yorkshire XXXII.NE]] (1948, surveyed 1938)
* [http://maps.nls.uk/view/100942112#zoom=5&lat=3208&lon=2964&layers=BT 6" O.S. map Yorkshire XXXII.NE]] (1952, surveyed 1950.)

== Background ==
* {{:Charlton, Lionel 1779a}}
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Monasteries Wikipedia: Dissolution of the Monasteries]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitby_Abbey Wikipedia: Whitby Abbey].
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== Notes ==
<references/>
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Jefferys thomas 1772a sheet4 row2 tile2 excerpt.jpg|{{:Jefferys, Thomas 1772a}}, sheet 4, row 2, tile 2 / [https://huddersfield.exposed/wiki/Jefferys%27_Map_of_Yorkshire_(1771)_-_sheet_4#customview=-128.25:132.5:3 Huddersfield Exposed, digitised by McMaster University]
Whitby_Abbey_at_sunset.jpg|Whitby Abbey at sunset / [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whitby_Abbey_at_sunset.jpg 'Ackers72', 12 April 2009, Wikimedia Commons.]
Gasquet francis aidan 1908a whitby abbey.jpg|Whitby Abbey / {{:Gasquet, Francis Aidan 1908a}}.
Charlton-1779-whitby-abbey-south-east.jpg|Whitby Abbey / [[:Charlton, Lionel 1779a | Lionel Charlton's ''History of Whitby Abbey'' (1779).]]
Whitby Abbey - Project Gutenberg eText 16785.jpg|Whitby Abbey / [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whitby_Abbey_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_16785.jpg 1909, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.]
Macquoid 1883 whitby abbey.jpg|Whitby Abbey / {{:Macquoid, Thomas R 1883a}}.
Atkinson, John Christopher 1894a frontis.jpg|Whitby Abbey / {{:Atkinson, John Christopher 1894a}}, frontis.
Atkinson, John Christopher 1894a facing p129.jpg|Whitby Abbey / {{:Atkinson, John Christopher 1894a}}, plate facing p. 129.
Atkinson, John Christopher 1894a facing p130.jpg|Whitby Abbey / {{:Atkinson, John Christopher 1894a}}, plate facing p. 130.
Atkinson, John Christopher 1894a facing p131.jpg|Whitby Abbey / {{:Atkinson, John Christopher 1894a}}, plate facing p. 131.
Atkinson, John Christopher 1894a facing p128.jpg|Whitby Abbey / {{:Atkinson, John Christopher 1894a}}, plate facing p. 128.
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