Robin Hood (Royston, Barnsley) (2)

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Robin Hood was the name of two fields in Royston. One of them is indicated here

Looking north-east from Robin Hood Avenue. This area was a field named Robin Hood in the mid-19th century / Google Earth Street View.

Detail of 25" O.S. map Yorkshire CCLXII.12 (1893; surveyed 1891) with the four 'Robin Hood' plots in gray / Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2016-15-11. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2020-05-16.

Robin Hood occurs as a field name or characterization of no less than four plots of land in the 1845 MS tithe award for Royston, which is now a suburban village within the Metropolitan borough of Barnsley, located c. 14 km SW of Wentbridge. Three of the plots form one continuous area, while the fourth, entered separately at IRHB as Robin Hood (Royston, Barnsley) (1), is situated slightly north-west of them, the distance between it and the nearest 'Robin Hood' plot being no more than c. 35 m.

The three connected plots, here treated as one area in view of their common name, and the adjacent fourth plot are best discussed together. The details provided for each in the tithe award, together with the corresponding field numbers in the earliest 25" O.S. maps (for which see below), are as follows:

1. Plot No. 158. Name and Description of Lands and Premises: 'Humple & Robin Hood'. Owner/occupier: Ball John. State of Cultivation: Arable. Area: 6 acres, 2 roods and 1 perch (Template:AcreRoodPerchToM2 m²). No. 247 on early O.S. maps.
2. Plot No. 162. Name and Description of Lands and Premises: 'Robin Hood'. Owner: Sir Theodore Broadhead. Occupier: John Bayldon. State of Cultivation: Arable. Area: 5 acres and 7 perches (Template:AcreRoodPerchToM2 m²). No. 253 on early O.S. maps.
3. Plot No. 166. Name and Description of Lands and Premises: 'Robin Hood'. Owner/occupier: John Boyldon, Esq. State of Cultivation: Arable. Area: 4 acres, 2 roods and 1 perch (Template:AcreRoodPerchToM2 m²). No. 258 on early O.S. maps.
4. Plot No. 167. Name and Description of Lands and Premises: 'Robin hood & Road'. Owner: Jonathan Ball. Occupier: William Woodcock. State of Cultivation: Arable and waste. Area: 5 acres and 11 perches (Template:AcreRoodPerchToM2 m²). Nos. 259-62, 268 on early O.S. maps.

Though the area has since become (sub)urbanized, not much had changed from the time the tithe map was drawn in 1845 to the earliest 25" O.S. map, which is based on surveying carried out in 1891. Its southern boundary is formed by the road named 'Senior Lane' on the tithe map and subsequently renamed Midland Road. The three connected plots stretch north from here to the footpath (which has since been) named Warren Walk. The fourth plot extends south from Common Lane, then named Low Common Lane, straddling the footpath. The easternmost of the three connected plots was shaped roughly like a mirror image capital 'L'. The present Robin Hood Avenue (Royston, Barnsley), which more or less follows the centre line of the ascender of this

L

, is presumably named after it. However, it is uncertain if 'Robin Hood' as used in the tithe is in fact a field-name.

In the first of the eight volumes on West Riding of Yorkshire Place-Names published by the English Place-Name Society, the editor A.H. Smith includes 'Robin Hood' in the list of Royston field-names. It is not clear to which of the four plots he referred, and in fact he showed no awareness that more than one plot was involved. Template:PnItemQry

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

• Tithe award for Royston, online at the Genealogist, piece 43, sub-piece 340, sub-image 031, #162; sub-image 033, #166; sub-image 034, #158, #167 (subscription required)
• acompanying map, online at the Genealogist, piece 43, sub-piece 340, image 001, #158, #162, #166 -67 (subscription required).

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. 1, p. 286, refers to this or Robin Hood (Royston, Barnsley) (1).

Maps

• 25" O.S. map Yorkshire CCLXII.12 (1893; surveyed 1891)
• 25" O.S. map Yorkshire CCLXII.12 (1906, rev. 1904) (georeferenced)
• 25" O.S. map Yorkshire CCLXII.12 (1906; rev. 1904)
• 25" O.S. map Yorkshire CCLXII.12 (1918; rev. 1914)
• 25" O.S. map Yorkshire CCLXII.12 (1918; rev. 1914)
• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire CCLXII.SE (1894; surveyed 1891)
• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire CCLXII.SE (1907; rev. 1904)
• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire CCLXII.SE (1907; rev. 1904) (georeferenced)
• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire CCLXII.SE (1932; rev. 1929-30)
• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire CCLXII.SE (1947; rev. 1938)
• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire CCLXII.SE (1949; rev. 1948).

Notes