Plumpton Park (Robin Hood)

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The former Plumpton Park.

[[File:|thumb|right|500px|Here once was a garden known as Plumpton Park / Google Earth Street View.]]

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2020-04-26. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2020-05-17.

The parking lot behind the Coach and Horses in the village of Robin Hood near Rothwell was once (part of) a garden known as Plumpton Park. The same place-name appears in the Gest of Robyn Hode (probably late 15th century).

In the tithe award for the township of Lofthouse in the parish of Rothwell, drawn up 1838-1841, Plumpton Park is listed as a garden with an area of 2 roods and 32 perches (Template:AcreRoodPerchToM2 m²). Its occupier was a George Cuthwaite, the owner a Kirkby Fenton, Esq. That this name should have been chosen for a garden at a place that was at that time probably only just beginning to morph into the village of Robin Hood is perhaps just a coincidence. After all, the name 'Plumpton Park' is found attached to quite a few small(ish) closes in this part of England in the period in question. Rather than deriving from the surname of an occupier and/or owner, the element 'Plumpton' could be a humorous reference to one of the fruits grown in such gardens or closes. IRHB is not aware of a single instance where there is any evidence of an owner/occupier being surnamed Plumpton, and the element 'Park' in this part of England of course often referred to an enclosed plot rather than what we would now call a park. It should also not be forgotten that when the tithe commissioners filled in their forms they asked owners/occupiers for a name or description of each plot, and there must have been many cases where the respondent had to come up with a name for, or short description of, a small plot of land for which he had never previously needed a name. Mr Cuthwaites' Plumpton Park was situated in what was then a detached part of Rothwell.

MS sources

• 1838-41 tithe award for the township of Lofthouse in the Parish of Rothwell, online at the Genealogist.com, piece 43, sub-piece 268, image 207, item 302; also see Piece 43, Sub-Piece 268, Image 196 (subscription required)
• 1841 tithe map for the township of Lofthouse in the Parish of Rothwell, online at the Genealogist.com, piece 43, sub-Image 001, item 302 (subscription required).

Maps

Maps of the area. 'Plumpton Park' not labelled.

• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire 233 (1854; rev. 1848-51)
• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire CCXXXIII.NE (1894; rev. 1892)
• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire CCXXXIII.NE (1908; rev. 1905)
• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire CCXXXIII.NE (1908; rev. 1905) (georeferenced)
• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire CCXXXIII.NE (1931; rev. 1931-32) [sic]
• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire CCXXXIII.NE (1947; rev. 1938)
• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire CCXXXIII.NE (1949; rev. 1948).

Notes