Monstrous
Monstropedia => Forbidden Archaeology => Topic started by: greenwych on October 31, 2009, 12:38:49 PM
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ROBIN HOOD'S GRAVE-- UNIQUE HISTORIC SITES AT KIRKLEES STILL HIDDEN FROM PUBLIC BY NEW MANAGERS
Part 1 Introduction
Part 2 History of site
Part 3 Ghosts and vampire tales
Part 4 Timeline 1984-2009
PART ONE.
DEEP in the heart of an ancient woodland in West Yorkshire,hidden beneath a formidable barrier of fierce thorns and dense undergrowth, there is a hidden grave. Here rest the mortal remains of Robin Hood, the Prince of Robbers, England’s outlaw hero,bloodily slain by the Prioress of Kirklees Nunnery six hundred years ago and cast into an unhallowed grave. Today Robin lies forgotten and unmourned in his lonely and desolate sepulchre, for few people know of the grave’s existence or its whereabouts. Why is this so ? Should not such a monument be an international place of pilgrimage and Yorkshire, not Nottingham, be the centre of the famous folk hero’s legend ? A mystery indeed which this short article attempts to unravel a little.
With the death of Lady Armytage last year there were hopes that more interest from Calderdale Council and long overdue improved public access would be forthcoming , but such is sadly not to be as it appears that some kind of posthumous guardianship in the form of a Trust has been set up involving the people who live in the luxury flats at Kirklees Hall . Lady Armytage , who inherited the hall, and has one daughter and a step -son from Sir John’s first marriage, sold it after Sir John's death in 1983, but as Robin’s grave and the medieval priory gatehouse where he died was outside the hall’s boundaries, remaining on Lady Armytage’s side of the estate , it seems odd that the flat owners are now involved in the administration of the sites.
So, what are we to make of all this? Is it simply the whims and fancies of the aristocracy who wish to continue their privileged feudal existence of blood sports and house parties undisturbed by the cap doffing common hoards or is it something more sinister, involving the occult and certain people seeking to control the network of ley lines around Robin Hood's Grave, for their own nefarious purposes. There have been many reports of " strange goings on " at the gravesite and even the reputed sighting of a vampire! Perhaps, also, the funny handshake brigade may be lurking in the sidelines , determined to keep this magical place to themselves.
The story of Robin Hood is well known but that of his death and the site where it took place, and of the evil prioress, her lover and the naughty nuns of Kirklees, less so. Yet this bloody saga still has a strange echo with the mysterious goings on today. The final extinction of the Armytage dynasty may have finally come to pass, yet the centuries old secret of Robin Hood's Grave remains jealously guarded by its newly-fledged keepers who continue to strictly maintain their late mistress's orders. While the evil influence of the prioress still casts her dark shadow over this mysterious and haunted spot.
Parts 2,3 & 4 available on request
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk5hgDIg4-A (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk5hgDIg4-A)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzF3G0qx5-w (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzF3G0qx5-w)
http://photo.livevideo.com/photo/RobinHoodYorkshire/photos.aspx (http://photo.livevideo.com/photo/RobinHoodYorkshire/photos.aspx)
http://robert-hood.blogspot.com/ (http://robert-hood.blogspot.com/)
Robin Hoods Grave --a modern mystery!
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Even more terrifying than the Blair Witch Project and a thousand times more intriguing than any Brother Caedfel mystery, SECRETS OF THE GRAVE and it's sequel SPIRIT OF THE GREENWOOD reveal, for the first time, the true story of the life and death of Robin Hood. Enter the dark, mysterious woods of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, and visit, with writer historian Barbara Green, the forest of Barnsdale where Robin roamed and the ruined priory gatehouse of Kirklees Nunnery where he was treacherously slain by the hand of an evil nun. Written testimonies from those who have experienced the ghostly presence of Robin and his comrades, whose spirits haunt this ancient forest, form the basis of both books, while the life of Robin, as told in SPIRIT OF THE GREENWOOD, accords fully with the Lytell Geste,(Robin's first biography) printed in the fifteenth century. This, one might think, could be the basis for a best selling book, but such seems to not to be the case, for ,according to the "experts" the public do not want to knw the truth and prefer to be fed the myth of Sherwood Forest and the dastardy deeds of the Sheriff of Nottingham, not to mention Richard the Lionheart, who does not even belong in the story at all!
The mystery of Robin's gruesome death at Kirklees, it would seem, is not the only inexplicable phenomenon surrounding the legend ! Why ARE people prevented from learning the true facts about the oulaw's life, due to the propogation of a fantasy by the media, and why is his famous grave at Kirklees, kept in a state of secrecy and neglect - and who is responsible for this bizarre situation? Dare you ask ? Dare you investigate and............. dare YOU print the truth ? Or is Robin Hood's legend to remain distorted out of all recognition, and the real man lost to future generations forever ?
"No one could see anything in the dense, suffocating blackness, but following Mark's directions we stumbled on forward through the barrier of writhing, intertwining bushes and trees; then suddenly, we found ourselves in a clearing, where, looming out of the gloom, rearing up before us in the light of our flickering torches, a massive,broken edifice was revealed . A huge ship of stone, wrecked in the everglades of Kirklees, listing crazily into the leaping shadows. We stood transfixed with fear and awe as we gazed upon the fallen pillars and twisted railings which were all that remained of Yorkshire's buried treasure -Robin Hood's Grave."
"My name is Ozymandias,king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck,boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
SHELLEY
Robin Hood's death is recorded in the ballad ROBIN HOOD, HIS DEATH AND BURIAL and briefly in the GESTE. According to the literature Robin is taken ill and decides to go to Kirklees Priory to be nursed by the prioress, who was "nye of his kin" and reputedly skilled in healing. On the way to the nunnery Robin is cursed by a witch - for reasons unknown, as the ballad is unfortunately incomplete. When Robin arrives at the nunnery, Little John, who has accompanied him, is sent away and the prioress proceeds to bleed Robin by opening a vein in his arm - standard medieval medicine, though unlikely to do anyone much good !
"Shee laid the blood irons to Robin Hood's vaine
Alacke the more pitye!
And perct the vaine, and let out the bloode,
That full red was to see. At first it bled,the thicke,thicke blood,
And afterwards the thinne,
And well then wist good Robin Hoode,
Treason there was within."
DEATH, V 16-17
According to the legend, Robin summons Little John with three blasts of his trusty hunting horn and the giant rushes to his comrade' s assistance, but alas,he is too late and Robin is already dying. With his last ounce of strength Robin fires his last arrow from the priory gatehouse window, requesting that where it falls he should be buried. Little John is beside himself with rage and grief and threatens to raze the nunnery and all its inhabitants to the ground.
"A boon,a boon," cried Little John,
"Master ,I beg of thee."
"What is that boon,"quoth Robin ,
"Little John,thou begs of me?"
"It is to burn fair Kirkley Hall,
"And all their nunnery."
"I ne'er hurt fair maid in all my life
"Nor at my end shall it be;
"But give me my bent bow in my hand,
"And my broad arrows 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 by my side
"Which was my music sweet,
"And make my grave of gravel and green,
"Which is most right and meet.
"Let me have length and breadth enough
"With a green sod under my head:
"That they may say when I am dead
"HERE LIES BOLD ROBIN HOOD."
The grave, six hundred yards from the gatehouse, was enclosed in iron railings in the nineteenth century. Today it is neglected and overgrown and little known to the general public. It bears the inscription:
Here underneath dis laitl stean
Laz robert earl of Huntintun
Ne'er arcir ver as hie sa geud
An pipl kauld im robin heud
Sick utlawz as his as iz men
Vil england nivr si agen
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THE DEATH OF ROBIN HOOD
At first it bled the thicke thicke blood
And afterwards the thinne
And well then wist good Robin Hood
Treason there was within
The death of Robin Hood is a well known legend. He was treacherously bled to death by the wicked prioress of Kirklees nunnery, a small Cistercian house near Brighouse, West Yorkshire. The outlaw's gory and unheroic end is shrouded in mystery. Who was the evil nun and why did she commit so foul a murder? What was the role of Red Roger of Doncaster, who was present at the scene of crime? Was he a priest and also the prioress's lover? Who WAS the prioress? Was she Dame Elizabeth de Stainton, whose grave can still be seen at Kirklees, or was it Sister Mary Startin, who died of the Black Death in 1350?
All that is left of this medieval whodunit is a ruined grave, hidden in deep woodland, and the derelict priory gatehouse of Kirklees where Robin was so gruesomely done to death. Was the famous outlaw a vitim of thwarted passion,pagan sacrifice, bad nursing, accident, natural causes or - vampirism ? The entire area where this horrific drama took place is shrouded in ,according to one old book, " .....a mystery which local people only reluctantly tried to penetrate.The mystery was helped physically by the thick shroud of trees that surrounded the place and was sustained by local tales of prioresses and nuns and of the death of Robin Hood......."
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I lose the Robin Hood legend. Nice.
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This is an interesting place but for some reason people are kept away,all the more reason to investigate!
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For some reason all I can think about is Robin Hood, men in tights. I hated that movie. :laugh:
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I thought it was funny as hell.
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Robin Hood, seriously?
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Seriously what?
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Robin Hood yes, seriously
Men in Tights, funny as all get out
Reasons for keeping out the public. If all are allowed onto private property than it soon becomes destroyed. If the Grave is truely there than do you not think it more wise to preserve it in as pristine a fashion as possible?
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Its not his grave though. Research shows that the name "Robyn Hode" was used as a pseudonym used for nameless criminals. Similar to "Jack" in later years. This also explains the inconsistency with what century Robin existed. The more romantic tales of Robin Hood (Mainly the ones containing Marion) find there origins in France where there was also a legendary figure called Robin. This Robin had many romantic tales of him and Marion. Thats why the older brittish tales of Robin dont contain much of Marion. She wasnt part of our tales. Its all very fascinating. All these amazing stories about one man. Historians would laugh. But many men using the one name. Makes it all feel more real. He was the 007 of his day.
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There is a dotty new film about by Russel Crowe I have heard,
greenwych
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Yeah. Cant be any worse than the Costner one.
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I agree Angelus, as a matter of fact I have yet to see a Costner film that I have yet to like.