Robin Hood's Chair (Baildon)

From International Robin Hood Bibliography
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Robin Hood's Chair.

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By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2016-12-17. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2019-06-05. Photos and additional information courtesy surveyor Nicholas Smith and his mother.

Robin Hood's Chair, a boulder in Trench Wood, c. 2 km SW of Baildon, is first recorded in 1852. The name and whereabouts of the Chair are now largely, if not entirely, forgotten in the area.

Author and blogger Kai Roberts describes the Chair as "an earthfast boulder in which water has worn a natural cavity resembling a seat and where Victorian antiquarians suggested some local shaman or chief once sat". He further notes that it is also sometimes known as Robin Hood's Seat and is located "about halfway down Shipley Glen".[1] According to the 1891 allusion cited below, the Chair is located "[a]t the top of Trench Wood, on entering the Glen". The Chair has an interesting neighbour, the Shipley Glen Tramway, which has taken passengers up and down the glen since 1895.[2] An official publication of Baildon Council has the Chair "[n]ear the top of the tramway",[3] which seems to confirm the statement in the 1891 allusion. The coordinates used for the map and cited in the Fact box are those of the georeferenced version of the 25" O.S. map of the area (see Maps below).


The earliest record of the name "Robin Hood's Chair" known to IRHB is a 6" O.S. map of Aireborough, Baildon, Bingley and Shipley published in 1852 (see Maps below).


The tithe award for Shipley (1849) does not include the name 'Robin Hood's Chair'.[4] That for Baildon lists two plots under the name "Trench Wood".[5] Template:PnItemQry

Gazetteers

Maps

Sources

Discussion

Background

  • 1845 tithe award for Baildon, online at the Genealogist.co.uk, piece 43, sub-piece 027, Image 413, item 587; Image 426, item 550 (subscription required)
  • 1849 tithe award for Shipley, online at the Genealogist.co.uk, piece 43, sub-piece 352, Images 423-54 (subscription required)
  • Shipley Glen Tramway.

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Notes

  1. Old Elmet Dreaming: My Folkloric Influences.
  2. [Shipley Glen Tramway] website.
  3. Ashton, Joe, ed.; Lorrain-Smith, Roy, ed.; Taylor, Marian, ed.; Lawson, Mike, ed.; Lawson, Tish, ed. Exploring Baildon: A Guide to Public Spaces (Baildon, Shipley, 2015), p. 20, No. 45.
  4. 1849 tithe award for Shipley, online at the Genealogist.co.uk, piece 43, sub-piece 352, Images 423-54 (subscription required).
  5. 1849 tithe award for Baildon, online at the Genealogist.co.uk, piece 43, sub-piece 027, Image 413, item 587; Image 426, item 550 (subscription required).

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