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Skelbrooke
Village |
The name, Barnsdale Bar, just a bit up
the Great North Road, reminds us that Skelbrooke lay in Bamsdale Forest, the
haunt of Robin Hood. By the side of the road, opposite where the lodge gate
cottages of Skelbrooke Hall stood before the road was widened, is Robin Hood's
Well. Old maps too mark the site of 'Robin Hood's Oak,' within the hall grounds
of which, the following story appears in Camden's Britannia:
' In Skelbrooke Park stood an immense tree which has now disappeared, though the
ground on which it stood is still called 'Bishop's Tree Root.' Tradition says
that the Bishop of Hereford with a numerous train of attendants, when travelling
to York came upon some seeming peasants who were roasting venison on the King's
highway. In just indignation at this flagrant infringement of the forest laws,
he asked them what they meant. They answered him that they meant to dine. He
then gave orders to his attendants to seize and bind them and lead them captive
to York. They prayed for mercy, but he swore by St. Charity that he would show
them none. Robin Hood then drew his bugle horn from beneath his smock-frock and
blew three blasts upon it, on which the Bishop and his train were instantly
surrounded by sixty bowmen in Lincoln green. The Bishop was not only held up for
a ransom of three hundred pounds, but was compelled to dance an undignified jig
beneath this oak tree in Skelbrooke Park, before he was allowed to proceed on
his journey.'
It is suggested that the Bishop could have been Thomas Cherlton, who was Bishop
of Hereford from 1327 to 1344.
James Brome, who was vicar of Newington, writes in his travels over England in
1700:
'We went to visit the well and ancient chair of Robin
Hood. Being placed in the chair, we had a cap, which
they say was his, very formally put upon our heads
and having performed the usual ceremonies befitting
so great a solemnity, we received the freedom of the
chair and were incorporated into the society of that renowned brotherhood.'
Before that, in 1654, the famous diarist, John Evelyn records a visit. He says:
We all alighted in the highway to drink a crystal spring which they call Robin
Hood's Well. Near it is a stone chair and an iron ladle to drink out of chained
to the seat.'
It is at this place that the tiny river Skel, from which both Skelbrooke and
Skellow derive their names, passes under the road. It seems to have been a place
of revelling and a field nearby was used for archery competitions. Perhaps Robin
Hood or some other forest outlaws sometimes prayed in Skelbrooke church in
Barnsdale Forest.
(Excerpt from leaflet: A History and Guide to The Parish Church of St Michael
and All Angels,1990, by Canon Stanley K Reynolds. Former rector of Skelbrooke)
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