It’s a lovely time to get out walking in West Yorkshire and my friend Heather, now living in exile in Staffordshire (which she tells me is also brilliant for walking) has ordered a couple of my walks books for a friend of hers who lives on the fringe of Pontefract’s liquorice country, as featured in my full colour booklet, All Sorts of Walks in Liquorice Country.
I want the one with the walk from the Chantry Bridge to Featherstone. I think it a splendid walk, and the book will make a lovely present for my friend.
Heather
The Robin Hood booklet, also in full colour, also includes walks around Pontefract and in Brockadale, Wentbridge, where Sayles, a rocky outcrop overlooking the old Great North Road, features in the earliest surviving Robin Hood ballad.
I’m posting these booklets to her friend with a bookmark with a message from Heather and an artist’s impression of Heather on a recent trek she made up a hill.
If you’d like these two booklets, along with a hand-drawn bookmark please use the link below before the end of the month. Please message me via PayPal or e-mail me via the link on my contact page to let me know what you’d like drawing on the bookmark.
Links
Two walks booklets: All Sorts of Walks in Liquorice Country and Walks in Robin Hood’s Yorkshire, plus one hand-drawn bookmark, including International Standard postage, £16.00
Rough Patch: postage to Canada
‘. . . earthy through and through. You can feel the garden, the weather, watch the wildlife and smell the seasons through its pages.’
Liz Wright, Smallholder magazine
It’s also a great time to get out in the garden with a sketchbook, so if you’d like a copy of my paperback, Rough Patch (post free, half price but hand-drawn bookmark not included!), please order it via my website:
This booklet has recently proved popular with garden journalers and I’ve had an enquiry from Canada. If you’d like me to post a copy to you in Canada, please use the link below before the end of this month.
Rough Patch, plus International Standard postage to Canada:
I’m delighted to have my Robin Hood artwork featured in an exhibition, closing next Friday, at Huddersfield University alongside – amongst others – Louis Zansky’s comic strip version. It was first published in 1942 in what was then the ‘Classic Comics’ series so, not surprisingly, there’s more than a hint of Errol Flynn’s 1938 Technicolor movie, The Adventures of Robin Hood.
Dr Todd Borlik and students in the School of Arts and Humanities have examined Robin Hood in history and literature, especially in the early ballads set in Yorkshire locations such as Sayles and Barnsdale near Pontefract.
My Walks in Robin Hood’s Yorkshire tours locations mentioned in the ballads and follows the career of a Robert Hode who features in the Manor Court Rolls of Wakefield. It’s likely that he was outlawed after fighting on the side of the rebels – led by Thomas of Lancaster, the Lord of the Manor of Wakefield at the time – at the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322.
Robin Hood and Little John at Kirklees Priory and my map from the Hartshead walk in ‘Walks in Robin Hood’s Yorkshire’.
Kirklees Priory is the scene of the story of Robin Hood’s death at the hands of his cousin, the Prioress and her lover Roger of Doncaster, who, according to a caption in the exhibition, may actually have been a ‘Roger of Huddersfield’.
The story gets a sumptuous Victorian gothic makeover in a stained glass window designed by Chance & Co. of Birmingham.
Robin Hood in literature from Piers Ploughman to lavish Edwardian children’s books.
Dr Todd Borlik and an online Dr Alex Brown were the speakers at The Yorkshire Robin Hood talk and discussion at Huddersfield University yesterday.
Todd, a Shakespeare scholar with a special interest in Renaissance Ecocriticism put the tradition of Robin Hood’s death and burial in Kirklees into context. He mentioned that shortly before Shakespeare wrote As You Like It, set in the Forest of Arden, a Robin Hood play had been performed in the Rose Theatre, just across the road from the Globe.
Brown and Borlik
In his talk Riding the Wheel of Fortune with Robin Hood, Alex looked at how the fear of downward social mobility in post pandemic medieval England is taken up in some of the earliest surviving Robin Hood ballads, particularly in the story of the poor knight Sir Richard of the Lee in A Lyttell Geste of Robyn Hode.
Margaret Nortcliffe, our guide at Kirklees Priory and Robin Hood’s Grave
In the afternoon we got a chance to visit Robin Hood’s Grave and the gatehouse of Kirklees Priory, recently restored as a private home.
The villainous Sir Roger de Doncaster and the Prioress of Kirklees, drawn by Sebastian Evans, M.A.
“Robin Hood being sore smitten with fever, betook himself to the prioress of Kirklees, his own cousin and one cunning in leechcraft, to let blood, the which false and cruel woman, being thereunto set on by her infamous favourite Sir Roger of Doncaster, having blooded him in the arm, would by no means staunch the same, but so left him.
Robin and Little John at Kirklees Priory
“He in a while, finding himself like to die, sounded feebly a blast on his bugle-horn; whereat Little John, his fellow and most trusty friend, doubting that his gentle master had fallen into some grievous strait, speedily made way into the chamber where he lay, and perceiving the truth of the matter, would incontinently have set fire on the house; but Robin would not that he should do any violence, and calling for bow and arrow, let fly through the window, bidding Little John to bury him wheresoever he should find the arrow; and straightway there he died.”
The Robin Hood Window Chance & Co., Birmingham, mid-Victorian c.1850-60
Portions of the old ballad of Robin Hood relating to the subject are introduced on a scroll at the base of the subject, and run as follows:-
“Yet he was beguiled, I wis, By a wicked woman, The prioress of Kirkleys, That nigh was of his kin. For the love of a knight, Sir Roger of Doncaster, That was her own special.
“Give me my bent bow in my hand, And a broad arrow I’ll let flee; And where this arrow is taken up, There shall my grave digged be. Lay me a green sod under my head, And another at my feet; And lay my bent bow at my side, Which was my music sweet.”
Another verse of an old ballad is inscribed on the flag across the canopy-work:-“Gentles and yeomen all, comely, courteous, and good, one of the best that ever bore bow, his name was Robin Hood;” and on the other side, ” God have mercy on Robin Hood, and save all good yeomanry.”
The collar round the greyhound’s neck has the suggestive motto, “Fidèle à la mort.”
The grotesque figures about the canopies and the cabinet, the serpent strangling the eagle, which supplies the place of one of the crockets; the tapestries in the background, on one of which is represented Jael about to drive the nail into the head of Sisera; and other details, are all arranged so as to carry out the general idea of the artist, who, we would add, has produced a very excellent and original work, which, owing to its unfortunate position in the building, could not be properly appreciated.
The design and cartoons for the Robin Hood window were drawn entirely by Sebastian Evans, Esq., M.A., at a time when he was manager of the artistic department of the Messrs. Chance’s glass-works, but who has since entered into business on his own account. The glass was manufactured at the establishment under his superintendence.
“THE high reputation of the Messrs. Chance as glass-manufacturors is so widely extended that further eulogium on our part would be quite superfluous. On referring to the official Report of the Jury, Class 34, we find the following remarks :
Messrs. Chance Brothers & Co. are large exhibitors in the English department, of crown-glass, sheet-glass of all descriptions, coloured pot-metal, and flashed glass of all colours, patent plate, patent rolled plate, stained and embossed glass, and stained windows. Mr. Chance having kindly consented to act as one of the Jurors in this class, is thus prevented from receiving a medal, to which he is so well entitled. The report made by the experts upon the glass exhibited by Messrs. Chance & Co. places it, in most respects, without a rival.
To Mr. Evans also is due one of the best reviews on the glass department of the International Exhibition, which appeared in the «Practical Mechanic’s Magazine,” Parts VIII. and IX., 1862.
Both at the Exhibitions of 1851 and 1855, in London and Paris, the highest encomiums of the Juries were given to the window and optical glass of the Messrs. Chance; and the Jury of 1851 specially praised ” the magnitude and variety of operations undertaken by this firm, the merit of their works, the liberality, intelligence, and spirit of enterprise which they have manifested, at great cost and risk, in experiments tried for the purpose of introducing into this country branches of manufacture almost exclusively practised hitherto by continental enterprise.”
Acknowledgements
My thanks to L. Addyman of Brighouse for passing this Victorian print on to me. It was Chromolithographed and Published by Day & Son, London, ‘Lithographers to the Queen, J. B. Waring direx.’
These notes are adapted from a leaflet supplied with the print, which is numbered ‘Plate 262.’ There’s a French translation on the back of the page.
International Exhibition, 1862, Cromwell Road, South Kensington. It stood on what is now the site of the Natural History Museum. After demolition, the building materials were used in the construction of Alexandria Palace.
From the latest date mentioned in the notes and the comment: ‘a very excellent and original work, which, owing to its unfortunate position in the building, could not be properly appreciated’, my guess is that this was an exhibit in the International Exhibition of 1862.
AFTER SO many Robin Hood talks during the past two days we’re here on a Wakefield Naturalists’ Society field meeting at a place which has long been associated with the outlaw. At the start of The Little Gest Robin Hood stands leaning against a tree in Barnsdale Forest. The forest was extensive and stretched northwards from the borders of Sherwood, so which part of Barnsdale did the ballad writers have in mind?
As at the start of the story Robin tells Little John, William Scarlock and Much to ‘go up to Sayles’ to scan the Great North Road for a ‘dinner guest’ (one who will subsequently be asked to pay!) they must be down here in Brockadale. Sayles is an outcrop overlooking the valley, now marked on the map as Sayles Plantation. Going back as far as 1841, iron age earthworks at Sayles were shown on the Ordnance Survey map as ‘Castle Hills’. Castle Hill is surrounded by several tower-like crags so it could have served as a look-out post and a defensible position for a band of archers.
Castle Hill was excavated a few years ago prior to an extension of quarrying operations. If the archaeologists discovered Robin’s hidden booty, they kept quiet about it.
Now managed, in part, as a Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve, Brockadale straddles the borders of North and West Yorkshire.
Damsons
Chapel Lane, Little Smeaton, 10 a.m.
JULY IS the middle of our summer but in the hedgerows there’s a feeling that autumn isn’t too far away. Hawthorn berries are beginning to appear – still green at the moment – but these damsons by the lay-by are well on their way to being ripe.
I’d always assumed that the ‘brock’ in Brockadale referred to the badger but apparently it means ‘broken dale’; the slopes are broken by craggy outcrops of magnesian limestone. The name might refer to quarrying on the valley slopes.
Perforate St John’s Wort (note the little ‘perforations’ when you hold a leaf up to the light, left) was used to treat wounds in Robin Hood’s day by the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, who had a preceptory at Newland, near Wakefield, and were Robert Hode’s close neighbours in the town on Warrengate, where Robin and the Hospitallers both held property.
The chalky soil that makes the limestone meadows so refreshingly different to the buttercup meadows that I’m so familiar with elsewhere on the coal measures and gritstone country of West Yorkshire.
Burnet Moths
This morning there are hundreds of 6-spot burnet moths about, some of them basking or feeding on the flowers of scabious and clustered bellflower.
Marbled White
There are also a few marbled white butterflies around today, mainly basking on a plant by the outcrop (top picture).
Sheep and cattle graze in the field below. Grazing is an essential part of the management of the grasslands, helping prevent bushes taking over and shading out the limestone meadow flowers.
Britain Revisited
Most of these drawings were made in Brockadale in July 2009. I was revisiting the east of England locations that I first drawn in July 1979 while working on my Richard Bell’s Britain sketchbook for Collins. There were so many places to revisit during July that I had to find some way of dealing with the rain. I took a pop-up shelter that I’d bought at Netto and set it up overlooking Brockadale (top picture).
I got some funny looks from passing dog walkers but at least I was able to work on my drawings most of the time except when the wind blew the rain straight down the valley and into my tent. I then zipped up the opening of the shelter and ate my picnic lunch snug in my shelter perched on the outcrop, as the rain battered against the canvas.
In my Walks in Robin Hood’s Yorkshire I follow the career of 14th century Robert Hode of Wakefield so Prince John and Richard the Lionheart are long gone but Edward II and his rival Earls (and rival lords of the manor of Wakefield) John de Warenne and Thomas of Lancaster provide a suitably dramatic and violent context. Their rivalry culminated in the Battle of Boroughbridge after which many men were declared outlaws.
I enjoyed illustrating the knockabout Little Gest of Robin Hood but I felt quite emotional when it came to the humiliation, mock-trial and execution of Thomas of Lancaster at his own castle at Pontefract. Here I was trying to imaginatively recreate real events which happened to a real, not a semi-mythical, person in a local town that I’ve long been familiar with.
Whatever his faults Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, didn’t deserve that kind of treatment. No wonder he was soon hailed as a saint!
Artwork from ‘Walks in Robin Hood’s Yorkshire’, Willow Island Editions, ISBN 978-1-902467-19-1, from my display ‘A long, drawn out process . . .’ exhibited at the Robin Hood Scholars’ Conference at Beverley, 10 July 2011.
The outlaws were the least of my worries; in Walks in Robin Hood’s Yorkshire, I had two earls, a king, a pinder, several Knights Hospitaller, assorted peasants and, not least, a Sheriff to design and draw.
George-a-Green
The Potter
Mak and Gill
Shepherd, Wakefield Mystery Plays
The Other Robin Hood
Knights of St John
Knights Hospitaller
Richard de Heya
Henry de Faucumberg
Stealing Wood
Burgess Court
Robin’s Maidservant
Artwork from ‘Walks in Robin Hood’s Yorkshire’, Willow Island Editions, ISBN 978-1-902467-19-1, from my display ‘A long, drawn out process . . .’ exhibited at the Robin Hood Scholars’ Conference at Beverley, 10 July 2011.
In the comic strip section of my Walks in Robin Hood’s Yorkshire, I needed to make Robin instantly recognisable in every one of dozens of two inch square frames. I wanted to get away from the traditional Robin Hood hat, so I went for the medieval equivalent of a trilby!
Robin Hood
Robin Hood goes Fishing
Robin the Butcher
Adam Hood
Robin Hood’s Wind
The Two Robins
Robin Hood’s Well
Outlaws
Barnsdale
Sorrowful Knight
The Merry Men
Robin and Deer
Artwork from ‘Walks in Robin Hood’s Yorkshire’, Willow Island Editions, ISBN 978-1-902467-19-1, from my display ‘A long, drawn out process . . .’ exhibited at the Robin Hood Scholars’ Conference at Beverley, 10 July 2011.
There were 6 picture maps to draw for the 19 miles of my Walks in Robin Hood’s Yorkshirealong with two short town trails, plus local views and historical details.
I love the maps in Tolkien and The Wind in the Willows and my aim is to try to make the places look delightful enough for my readers to feel they’d like to walk there but accurate enough for them to follow the directions in the text without the need for an Ordnance Survey map (although I do recommend people take one with them in case there are unexpected footpath closures or if they decide to stray off the route).
Robin Hood’s Yorkshire
Arms of the House of Lancaster, built into a wall near Pontefract Castle
Little John’s Well
Robin Hood’s Well
St Mary Magdelene, Campsall
St Mary’s Abbey, York
Robin Hood’s Tower, York
Brockadale Map
Rough for Brockadale Map
Artwork from ‘Walks in Robin Hood’s Yorkshire’, Willow Island Editions, ISBN 978-1-902467-19-1, from my display ‘A long, drawn out process . . .’ exhibited at the Robin Hood Scholars’ Conference at Beverley, 10 July 2011.
144 illustrations to plan – and that’s just the comic strip section! The idea of these lightning sketches for my Walks in Robin Hood’s Yorkshire was to make sense of my months of research and get rid of all those scary white pages by populating them with lively historical detail and traditional tales.
Robin Hood’s Wind
Humble Jumble
Robin Hood and the Potter
Seige of Sandal Castle
Deer parks around medieval Wakefield
The French Guard
Robin Hood’s Well
Robin Hood goes fishing
Queen Isabella
Robin and Little John
Wine Taster
King Edward
Rough visuals for the illustrations from ‘Walks in Robin Hood’s Yorkshire’, Willow Island Editions, ISBN 978-1-902467-19-1, from my display ‘A long, drawn out process . . .’ exhibited at the Robin Hood Scholars’ Conference at Beverley, 10 July 2011.
