Robin Hood's Island (Helsington)

Locality
Coordinate	54.2904, -2.7535
Adm. div.	Westmorland
Vicinity	In River Kent; about equidistant from Helsington, Natland, and Sedgwick; midway between Low Park Wood and Hawes Wood
Type	Natural feature
Interest	Robin Hood name
Status	Extant
First Record	1836

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Robin Hood's Island.

Robin Hood's Island, a wooded rock in River Kent, midway between Low Park Wood and Hawes Wood / © Karl and Ali; Creative Commons.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2016-08-17. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2021-03-21.

Robin Hood's Island (or Robin Hood Island) is a small wooded rock in River Kent at a point approximately equidistant from Helsington, Natland, and Sedgwick, midway between Low Park Wood and Hawes Wood. It is first mentioned in a rental dated 1836.

Immediately SE of Robin Hood's Island, on the S bank of River Kent is/was located Robin Hood's Wood and 375 m SSW is/was found Robin Hood's Well. A small island in a river may have appealed to a youthful imagination. Were these three localities named by children playing in this area?

Gazetteers

• Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), p. 305, s.n. 'Robin Hood Island'.

Maps

• 6" O.S. map Lancashire IX (1851-63; surveyed 1847-58)
• 6" O.S. map Westmorland XXXVIII (1863; surveyed 1858)
• 6" O.S. map Westmorland XXXVIII.SE (1899; rev. 1897)
• 6" O.S. map Westmorland XXXVIII.SE (1920; rev. 1911)
• 6" O.S. map Westmorland XXXVIII.SE (1920; rev. 1911)
• 6" O.S. map Westmorland XXXVIII.SE (c. 1947; rev. 1938).

Brief mention

• Godwin, Jeremy. '"Robin Hood", near Langwathby', Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, Series 2, vol. 96 (1996), p. 236

Also see

• Helsington place-name cluster
• Places named Robin Hood's Island.

Notes

 Westmorland place-names 

 Place-names