Robin Hood Iron Mine (Forest of Dean)
[[File:|thumb|right|500px|Looking roughly SW from Stounton Road (A4136), its a short walk c. 85 m straight ahead to the site of the Robin Hood Iron Pit / Google Earth Street View.]]
By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2018-09-24. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2018-09-24.
Robin Hood Iron Pit was located in or near Marian's Inclosure in the Forest of Dean. It was certainly in operation by 1884, possibly by 1879.
The earliest source for this place-name known to IRHB is a 6" O.S. map of the area published in 1884, based on surveying carried out 1879-80 (see Maps below). Some revisions of the map label the site "Robinhood Iron Mine", while others have "Robin Hood Iron Pit". The part of the Forest of Dean in which the mine was situated was known as Blake's Wood.
One of 39 active mining operations in the district during the 19th century or later, the Robin Hood Iron Mine also produced ochre for use in the paint industry.[1] The forest has reclaimed the site to the extent that hardly any traces of the mining operation can be discerned on Google Maps satellite images. However, on the ground several are still visible, including the "[s]ite of a shaft (now sealed with an iron plate)" and the "[s]ite of an air shaft of unknown date, located c.60 metres south-west of Robin Hood Iron Pit, and possibly associated with that site". Among many other remains of mining and quarrying operations in the vicinity are a "[f]lat-topped mound of unknown date located in woodland to the north of the site of Robin Hood Iron Pit, near the A4136". Robin Hood Iron Pit was also worked for ochre.[2] The O.S. maps listed below include details such as buildings, a shaft, an air shaft, ramparts or heaps of waste, a weighing machine, and access roads. With few conspicuous traces of the mine now remaining and hence so little reason for people in the area to have use for a name for it, it is probably fair to say that this place-name is now defunct. A few references in the archaeological literature hardly speak against this.[3]
"Marian" occurs as an element in the names of at least five localities in the vicinity, and until we have clear evidence to the contrary, it seems reasonable to believe these place-names may refer to Maid Marian.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.
Sources
- Hoyle, Jon; Gloucestershire County Council. The Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire: Archaeological Survey. Stage 1: Desk-Based Data Collection. Project Number 2727 ([s.l.], 2008), vol. 2, pp. 75 (SMR No. 13937), 169 (area 6126), 170 (area 6126), 177 (area 13922)
- Hoyle, Jon; Gloucestershire County Council. Research Framework for Forest of Dean District. Forest of Dean Archaeological Survey Stage 4: Module 3. Project Number 5291 ANL ([s.l.], 2017), pp. 121-37. Excellent overview of mining and quarrying operations in the area.
Maps
- 25" O.S. map Monmouthshire XV.2 (c. 1882; surveyed 1880). (No Copy in NLS)]
- 25" O.S. map Gloucestershire XXX.15 (1895; surveyed 1879-80)
- 25" O.S. map Gloucestershire XXX.15 (1902; rev. 1900)
- 25" O.S. map Monmouthshire XV.2 (1902; rev. 1900) (georeferenced).
- 25" O.S. map Monmouthshire XV.2 (1902; rev. 1900)
- 25" O.S. map Gloucestershire XXX.15 (1922; rev. 1920)
- 6" O.S. map Gloucestershire XXX.SE (1884; surveyed 1878-80)
- 6" O.S. map Gloucestershire XXX.SE (1903; rev. 1900) (georeferenced).
- 6" O.S. map Gloucestershire XXX.SE (1903; rev. 1900)
- 6" O.S. map Monmouthshire XV.NW (1903; rev. 1900)
- 6" O.S. map Monmouthshire XV (1924; rev. 1918)
- 6" O.S. map Gloucestershire XXX (1924; rev. 1920-21).
Background
- Hoyle, Jon; Gloucestershire County Council. The Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire: Archaeological Survey. Stage 1: Desk-Based Data Collection. Project Number 2727 ([s.l.], 2008), vol. 2, pp. 75 (SMR No. 13937), 169 (area 6126), 170 (area 6126), 177 (area 13922).
Notes
- ↑ Hoyle, Jon; Gloucestershire County Council. Research Framework for Forest of Dean District. Forest of Dean Archaeological Survey Stage 4: Module 3. Project Number 5291 ANL ([s.l.], 2017), p. 134; Hoyle, Jon; Gloucestershire County Council. The Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire: Archaeological Survey. Stage 1: Desk-Based Data Collection. Project Number 2727 ([s.l.], 2008), vol. 2, p. 169 (area 6126).
- ↑ Hoyle, Jon; Gloucestershire County Council. The Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire: Archaeological Survey. Stage 1: Desk-Based Data Collection. Project Number 2727 ([s.l.], 2008), vol. 2, pp. 75 (SMR No. 13937), 170 (area 6126), 177 (area 13922).
- ↑ See references in Sources and Background sections.