Robin Hood

Although Robin Hood is normally associated with Sherwood Forest and Nottingham, he travelled extensively throughout the whole of Yorkshire. Indeed, the quaint seaside village of Robin Hood's Bay on the east coast is well known.

What is perhaps less well known is that Robin Hood met his death at Kirklees Priory (behind the Three Nuns) and his gravestone is on the Kirklees Park private estate owned by Lady Armytage. The priory, a cistercian nunnery, was founded in 1155 during the reign of Henry II. The name 'Kirklees' means 'church fields'.

This photograph shows the only remaining building of Kirklees Priory - it is the guest house and parts of the building are already starting to collapse. Unusually, the entrance to this building is an outdoor stone staircase at the rear.

Legend has it that Robin Hood was bled to death here by the prioress, Elizabeth de Staynton. Weak and dying, he shot his last arrow from one of these windows and asked that he be buried where the arrow came to land.

This photograph shows Robin Hood's grave located approximately 650 yards from the priory guest house. The grave is amidst woodland and is very overgrown. It is surrounded by iron railings, which were erected to protect the gravestone from people who believed that fragments of the grave could cure toothache. Indeed, during the construction of the Yorkshire-Lancashire railway, the grave was damaged by workmen who removed small pieces to cure dental problems.