Dastardly attack on Robin Hood
The great thing about folklore – and for us the folklore of Northamptonshire – is that it is up to each individual to decide whether a story is true or tosh.
As a naive romantic, I like to accept that everything is true.
So there!
For instance, I have long accepted the story that Robin Hood came to Brigstock, near Corby, on Lady Day, March 25, back in the days when he was roaming these shires with his Merry Men.
The outlaws, dressed in their best Lincoln Green, swelled the congregation for mass in the famous Saxon church.
At the end of the service as Robin and his Merry Men prepared to leave, they were attacked by the nasty and devious Sir Ralph de Hanville, an officer of the crown who, with his henchmen, had been hiding at the back of the church waiting to pounce.
What a fracas! Arrows were shot in all directions; the poor parish priest was fatally injured as was Sir Ralph, who got his just deserts.
In haste, Robin rode off towards Rockingham Forest in an attempt to draw Sir Ralph's men away from the church.
A mile or so from Brigstock in a clearing in Fermyn Woods, he threw his bow and arrows into the hollow trunk of a tree.
Having shaken off his pursuers and posing as a peasant, he rode back and rejoined his men.
The tree in which he hid his equipage was the Bocase Tree around which medieval forest courts were held.
The tree disappeared long ago, but on the spot where it stood is an ancient stone on which is inscribed, "In this plaes grew Bocase Tree".
Now Robin was on his way to Rockingham with his entourage and here history and folklore become what I love to dub "faction".
Robin Hood websites are full of the controversial theory that following their devotions in Brigstock church, he and his Merry Men met up again and then went poaching in Rockingham Forest and were caught red handed.
The Robin Hood websites poo-poo the story completely, but it seems there is evidence that in 1354 a certain Robyn Hode was imprisoned in Rockingham Castle for "trespass of vert and venison in the Forest".
Credited with this info is none-other than our own Dr Peter Hill, in his excellent and definitive book Folklore of Northamptonshire . . . and if he gives it credence then it's good enough for me!
One visit to Northamptonshire that cannot be questioned was that of King Edward IV who spent a lot of time here for various reasons, most notably because he wooed and married local girl Elizabeth Woodville in Grafton Regis on May 1, 1464, and made her, most controversially, his queen.
In 1471 Edward came to Daventry and attended Divine Service in the parish church on Palm Sunday during which a miracle happened.
A Government propaganda sheet of the time called The Arrival says that during the service Edward, who had a special devotion to St Anne, prayed before her statue.
Now during Lent, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Eve, all crosses and statues were boarded up. But as the king prayed, the boards burst open and crashed to the floor revealing St Anne.
But please don't go searching for the statue of St Anne in the present parish church because it dates from 1752.
The old priory church that stood on the same site became unsafe and was demolished to make way for the new building.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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