Robin Hood's Grave

Robin Hood's Grave is a name given to a number of monuments in England which allegedly mark the last resting place of the legendary outlaw Robin Hood. Examples include:
* Cairn on Crosby Ravensworth Fell, coord|54.4893|N|2.5926|W|
* Monument in Kirklees Park Estate, West Yorkshire, England, coord|53.6897|N|1.736|W|. Robin Hood was traditionally supposed to have been bled to death by the prioress of Kirklees (or Kirkley or kirklea or kirkleys) Priory . The identity of the prioress is the subject of much debate as indeed is the date of Robin Hoods death. (The Prioresses of Kirklees are listed here [http://robin-hoode.blogspot.com/2007/11/prioress-of-kirklees.html] .) The earliest reference to the gravestone is in Philemon Holland's English translation of William Camden's "Britannia" (1610). In the 18th century, Thomas Gale, Dean of York, claimed to have found a poetic epitaph with the date of death given as 24 December 1247, although the language in which it is written is not the Middle English of the time, suggesting it is merely a forgery. The epitaph reads:

:Hear underneath dis laitl stean
Laz robert earl of Huntingtun
Ne’er arcir ver as hie sa geud
An pipl kauld im robin heud
Sick utlawz as he an iz men
Vil england nivr si agen
Obiit 24 kal: Dekembris, 1247.

ources

*Jennifer Westwood and Jacqueline Simpson "The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's Legends" (Penguin, 2005) p.830

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/features/2003/10/bury_me_where_my_arrow_falls_full.shtml BBC Nottingham article on recent research into Robin Hood's Grave]
* [http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/robin-hood/features/robin-hood-s-grave-finished Site with a picture of the grave and the text of the epitaph in full]