Anyone who takes Robin Hood seriously enters into a dream world in which historical fact is less important to one's enjoyment than romantic legend. We have a smattering of facts about the world's most famous outlaw and his life in the forests of Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, but every fact is embellished by the ballad singers. It is almost impossible to distinguish fact from fancy, but this is far from saying there is no basis in fact for the existence of the fancies.

Robin Hood was undoubtedly a common name in medieval England. There is a multiplicity of stories, but scholarship has brought to light the life of a man who could conceivably have been Robin Hood. His birth as Robert Hode was fixed at Wakefield about 1290. He married a woman called Matilda. He was called up with the other Wakefield men to fight for his Lord, Thomas Earl of Lancaster, at the Battle of Boroughbridge and was one of the vanquished who took to the forest to escape a charge of treason. The victorious king at the battle was Edward II who later pardoned Robin Hood on the common condition that he enter Royal Service. Not many months later, Robin Hood sickened of court life and returned to the greenwood. He was buried at Kirklees Priory not far from Huddersfield by Little John.

Hallamshire (on the borders of Derbyshire and Yorkshire) has a slightly different record. Robin was born in a small house in Bar wood and fled into the greenwood after fatally injuring his stepfather while ploughing.

Those interested in yet more suggestions as to the factual basis of Robin Hood may find them in 'Exploring Robin Hood Country' by W.R. Mitchell and published by Dalesman in 1978, and 'The Truth about Robin Hood' by P. Valentine Harris published by Linneys of Mansfield in 1951. Why is Hathersage not Sherwood the burial place of Little John?

Very few people realise that the earliest records of Robin Hood and Little John make no mention of Sherwood but rather of Barnsdale. This area now covers West and South Yorkshire and the borders of Derbyshire. It is the later legends, much exploited by Hollywood and television, that concentrates on the Sherriff of Nottingham and the photogenic and romantic forest of Sherwood.

So the question might be turned round. The earliest facts are near Hathersage, is there anything but legend at Sherwood!?'

The above was extracted from 'Let These Stones Live' by Martin F.H. Hulbert, with the kind permission of St. Michael and All Angels church, Hathersage.