Little John and Hathersage
Posted 27/11/23
Little John is universally known as Robin Hood’s faithful companion and right-hand man. According to tradition, he was born in the village of Hathersage, Derbyshire, but this is not mentioned in the Robin Hood legend. In A Gest of Robyn Hode, Little John (in the guise of ‘Reynolde Grenelefe’) tells the sheriff of Nottingham that he was born in Holderness (stanza 149), which is in the East Riding of Yorkshire. His name in a seventeenth century ballad is actually John Little, but after he defeats Robin Hood in the battle on the bridge, his name is changed to Little John. This became a sarcastic reference to his largeness – ‘Tho’ he was call’d Little, his limbs they were large, And his stature was seven foot high’ (see, Robin Hood and Little John).
1. The earliest record that I have found about Little John’s association with Hathersage, is by the eminent Yorkshire antiquarian Roger Dodsworth (1585-1654), written in 1619:*
Robert Lockseley, born in Bradfeild parish in Halumshire, wounded his stepfather to death att plough, fledd into the woodes, and was releived by his mother till he was discovered. Then he came to Clifton super Calder, and came acquainted with little John, that kept the kyne, which said John is buried at Hathershead in Derbyshire, wher he haith a faire tombestone with an inscription. In margin: “Mr. Long saith y Fabian saith little John was an erle’s Huntley’s son. After he joyned with [. . .]ch, the miller son, [. . .] lade and [. . . .].” See, Yorkshire Church Notes 1619-1631, by Roger Dodsworth, p. 52.
* There is a heading: Halifax Church, 5 Aprilis, 1619, in Dodsworth’s Yorkshire Church Notes, p. 44. This corresponds with the heading: Free schoole of Hallifax, on p. 52 (above).
Dodsworth’s record is also mentioned by Holt:
Robert Locksley, born in Bradfield parish, in Hallamshire [S. Yorkshire], wounded his stepfather to death a plough: fled into the woods, and was relieved by his mother till he was discovered. Then he came to Clifton upon Calder, and came acquainted with Little John, that kept the kine; which said John is buried at Hathershead [Hathersage] in Derbyshire, where he hath a fair tomb-stone with an inscription. Mr Long saith that Fabyan saith, Little John was an earl Huntingdon. After he joined with Much, the Miller’s son.* (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Dodsworth MS 160, fo. 64b). See, J. C. Holt, Robin Hood, London, 1982, p. 44 and p. 192, n. 9).
* Dodsworth obviously had some knowledge of Robin Hood’s association with Locksley (see, The Sloane Manuscript ‘Life’ of Robin Hood). ‘Fabyan’ probably refers to Robert Fabyan, but he does not say that Little John held the Huntingdon title. See, nos. 67 and 69 in Robin Hood Timeline, and The Downfall and Death of Robert, Earl of Huntington.
2. The earliest mention of Little John’s bow, and the two stones at his gravesite, appears to be in a loose paper in the writing of Mr. (Elias) Ashmole (1617-1692) in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, which contains the following note:
“The famous Little John (Robin Hood’s companion) lyes buried in Hethersedge churchyard in the peak of Derbyshire, one stone at his head, another at his feet, and part of his bow hangs in the chancell. Anno 1652.” (Ashmole MS. 1137, f. 147). I have found this in The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, Part 141, (Being the first part of Volume XXXVI.), [Issued to members only.], Wakefield, 1944, ‘Robin Hood Identified’ by J. W. Walker, p. 45; and again by the same author; The True History of Robin Hood, J. W. Walker, (Republished from the original edition of 1952, with a new index, by EP Publishing Limited, Yorkshire, 1973), Chapter XXIII, ‘Little John’s Grave at Hathersage’, p. 128. Similar mentions of Ashmole’s record are found in: A View of the Present State of Derbyshire, James Pilkington, vol. 2, Derby, 1789, p. 385; Robin Hood, Joseph Ritson, London (1853 edition), p. 34, n. 2; Hallamshire, Joseph Hunter, (A new and enlarged edition by the Rev. Alfred Gatty), London, 1869, p. 3, and on p. 4: ‘It is also said that in the year 1632 his bow was hanging up in the church (from a loose paper in Mr. Ashmole’s handwriting in the Oxford Museum)’; and a somewhat different version in The Reliquary, Quarterly Archaeological Journal and Review, vol. IX., 1868-9, ‘By William Bemrose Junior’, p.202: ‘The following is copied from the MSS. of Elias Ashmole at Oxford, (who was born in 1617), and who there says:- “Little John lyes buried in Hatherseech Church yard within 3 miles fro Castleton in High Peake with one Stone set up at his head and another at his Feete, but a large distance betweene them. They say a part of his bow hangs up in the said Church. Neere Grindleford Bridge are Robin Hood’s 2 Pricks.’’’ See also, A Descriptive, Analytical, and Critical Catalogue of the Manuscripts Bequeathed Unto the University of Oxford by Elias Ashmole, Oxford, 1845, p. 980, and ‘Index to the Catalogue Appendix, Chiefly of Additional Entries Omitted in the Catalogue,’ 1866, p. 184.>
3. In A View of the Present State of Derbyshire,Volume two, published in 1789, James Pilkington tells us that Hathersage Church ‘is dedicated to St. Michael’, and that ‘The duke of Devonshire is the patron.’ Pilkington continues with the following:
‘According to tradition the famous Little John, Robin Hood’s companion, lies buried in the church yard with one stone at his head, and another at his feet. It is also said, that in the year 1652 his bow was hanging up in the church. The grounds of this tradition have lately been fully examined. The distance betwixt the two stones, which are said to be placed at the head and feet of Little John, is about four yards and a quarter; and from the great length of the grave it was presumed, that some very tall man was buried in it. With a view of gaining full and satisfactory information in regard to this point, the ground has been dug up at several different times. But no bones were found, till the year 1784, when the earth was penetrated to a greater depth, than it had ever been at any former period. A thigh bone was then discovered, which very much corresponded to the length of the grave. It measured twenty nine inches and a half; and was met with at the depth of two yards from the surface. It was kept about a year at a gentleman’s house in the village for the inspection of the curious, and then buried again in the ground, from which it had been taken. In regard to the bow, to which Mr. Ashmole alludes, I have not been able to meet with any one, who has either seen or heard of it. The credibility of these stories is considerably strengthened by observing, that there are several places in the neighbourhood, which bear the name of Robin Hood. In particular, I saw in a high ridge of rocks about two miles from the town of Hathersage, and at a small distance from the road leading to Sheffield, a recess two yards deep and one wide with a seat in it, which is called Robin Hood’s chair. In the chancel of the church is a monument with several figures, in the dress of the times, engraven in brass, and with a latin inscription, of which the following is a translation: Pray for the souls of the venerable man Mr. Ralph Eyre, formerly of Offerton, in the county of Derby, gent. and of Elizabeth his wife, which Ralph died in the year 1493.’
Pilkington appears to have visited Hathersage church, but by that time the bow had been moved to Cannon Hall. He does mention Elias Ashmole’s record (2. above) but apart from that, his information about Little John’s grave is from an undisclosed source. See, A View of the Present State of Derbyshire, James Pilkington, vol. 2, Derby and London, 1789, pp. 385-88. There is another edition printed for William Marriott, Derby, and Samuel Tipper, Spread-Eagle Court, Finch-Lane, Cornhill, London, by J. D. Dewick, Aldersgate-street, 1803, vol. 2, pp. 385-88.
4. Some information about the two stones at Little John’s gravesite is given by E. Hargrove (1741–1818) in his Anecdotes of Archery from the Earliest Ages to the Year 1791. . . . , published in 1792. Hargrove tells us that: ‘In the churchyard of Hathersage, a village in Derbyshire, were deposited, as tradition informs us, the remains of John Little, the servant and companion of Robin Hood. The grave is distinguished by a large stone, placed at the head, and another at the feet; on each of which are yet some remains of the letters I. L.’ He also tells us about a tradition where Robin Hood and ‘John Little’ each shoot and arrow from the top of Whitby Abbey ‘which fell not far from Whitby Laths.’ (Also in Ritson, no. 5 below). See, E. Hargrove, Anecdotes of Archery from the Earliest Ages to the Year 1791. . . . with some curious particulars in the Life of Robert Fitz-Ooth, Earl of Huntingdon, vulgarly called Robin Hood, York, 1792, pp. 22, 23, 25, 26; also in Anecdotes of Archery from the Earliest Ages to the Year 1791. . . . revised, brought down to the present time, and interspersed with much new . . . matter, including an account of the principal existing societies of archers, a life of the renowned Robin Hood, and a glossary of terms used in archery, by the late E. Hargrove, York, 1845, pp. 30, 31, 34.
5. Joseph Ritson (1752-1803) mentions Little John and his grave, in his Robin Hood a Collection of All the Ancient Poems, Songs, and Ballads first published in 1795. He says: “the honour of little Johns death and burial is contended for by rival nations.” Ritson then begins with the English tradition: ‘At the village of Hathersage, about 6 miles from Castleton, in Derbyshire, is Little Johns grave. A few years ago some curious person caused it to be opened, when there were found several bones of an uncommon size which he preserved; but, meeting afterwards with many unlucky accidents, he carefully replaced them; partly at the intercession of the sexton, who had taken them up for him, and who had in like manner been visited with misfortunes: upon restoring the bones all these troubles ceased. Such is the tradition at Castleton.’ Like James Pilkington (no. 3 above), Ritson mentions Ashmole’s record (no. 2 above), and apart from that, his information about Little John’s grave is from an undisclosed source.
Ritson then relates the tradition in Scotland from Hector Boece, who says he saw Little John’s large bones in Scotland “In Murray land” [Moray]; this is actually John Bellenden’s translation which is far from identical with Boece’s Scotorum Historiae written in Latin (see also, nos. 138 and 170 in Robin Hood Timeline). Ritson turns to Ireland, and he quotes from Richard Stanihurst’s Discription of Ireland, in Holinshed’s chronicle of 1577, where Stanihurst says that Little John fled the realm by sailing into Ireland, where he stayed for a few days at Dublin, and that ‘he fled into Scotland, where he died at a towne or village called Moravie’ [Moray] (see also, no. 308 in Robin Hood Timeline). Ritson also mentions ‘Dr. Hanmer’, who borrowed from Richard Stanihurst, Hector Boece, and John Major (Meredith Hanmer, The Chronicle of Ireland, published by James Ware in 1633, p. 179, and reprinted in 1809, vol. 2, pp. 357-58). Ritson then quotes ‘Mr. Walker’ who says: “poor Little John’s great practical skill in archery could not save him from an ignominious fate: it appeared, from some records in the Southwell family, that he was publicly executed for robbery on Arbor-hill, Dublin.” (Joseph C. Walker, An Historical Essay on the Dress of the Ancient and Modern Irish: To Which is Subjoined, A Memoir on the Armour and Weapons of the Irish, Dublin, 1788, p. 129).
Ritson also states: ‘As surnames were by no means in general use at the close of the twelfth century, Little John may have obtained that of Nailor from his original profession.’* Ritson continues: ‘But however this, or the fact itself may be, a bow said to have belonged to Little John, with the name of Naylor upon it, is now, as the editor is informed, in the possession of a gentleman in the west riding of Yorkshire.’** Ritson also mentions: ‘he [Robin Hood] attended by his trusty mate Little John, went to dine [at Whitby-Abbey] with the abbot Richard, who, having heard them often famed for their great dexterity in shooting with the long bow, begged them after dinner to shew him a specimen thereof; when, to oblige the abbot, they went up to the top of the abbey, whence each of them shot an arrow, which fell not far from Whitby-laths’. (Also in Hargrove, no. 4 above). See, Joseph Ritson, Robin Hood: A Collection of Poems, Songs, and Ballads, London (1853 edition), pp. 10-34-35.
* There are some wild claims: ‘The legend claims he was a Nailer, in other words made nails for a living – traditionally a profession requiring a great deal of strength’ and ‘This grave was owned by the Nailor (Naylor) family, and sometimes some variation of “Nailer” is given as John’s surname’. (The Star, Sheffield, Yorkshire: Exploring Hathersage’s connection to the legend of Little John and Robin Hood, by Lucy Ball, published 21st Jan 2021).
** Also on page two: ‘Little John (whose surname is said to have been Nailor)’; On page four: ‘and that some of his descendents, of the name of Nailor, which he himself bore, and they from him, were in being so late as the last century’; On page thirty-five: ‘some of his descendents of the name of Nailor’.
6. In his Peak Scenery: or, The Derbyshire Tourist published in 1824, Ebenezer Rhodes (1762-1839) tells us about his visit to Little John’s grave in Hathersage churchyard: ‘His burial-place is distinguished by stones placed at the head and foot of his grave; they are nearly four yards apart, and are said to designate the stature of this gigantic man. However fabulous this account may be, the body here interred appears to have been of more than ordinary size. In October, 1784, this reputed grave of Little John was opened, when a thigh bone measuring two feet five inches was found within it’.
Rhodes reveals some interesting revelations: ‘A tall man from Offerton, who on account of his stature had probably obtained the name of Robin Hood’s faithful follower, was interred in this place: hence originated this village tradition; and that it might be rendered still more marvellous, when the bones were re-committed to the grave, the stones that originally marked the stature of the tall man of Offerton were removed farther apart.’* Rhodes was sceptical about Little John’s association with Hathersage. In a note he states: ‘Hathersage is somewhat tenacious with respect to this circumstance in its local history, and insists upon the validity of its claim to the burial place of Little John. The traditional authority on which this claim rests is more than doubtful. Mr. J. A. [should be J. C.] Walker, in his ingenious “Memoir on the Armour and Weapons of the Irish,” annexed to his “Historical Essay on the Dress of the Ancient and Modern Irish,” has given some curious particulars relative to the skill of Little John in archery, and he informs us that he terminated his life on the gallows, and that he was “executed for a robbery on Arbor Hill, Dublin.”** If this author be correct, it is not likely that Little John was buried at Hathersage.’ Rhodes also gives some information about the interior of the church, but he makes no mentions of Little John’s bow or other belongings. See, E. Rhodes, Peak Scenery; or, The Derbyshire Tourist, London and Sheffield, 1824, pp. 180-81. Also in E. Rhodes, Peak Scenery, or Excursions in Derbyshire: made chiefly for the Purpose of Picturesque Observation, London and Sheffield, 1818 – 1823, Part III, pp. 7-9.
* There are some wild claims: ‘According to local legend, Little John built himself a small cottage across the River Derwent from the family home. The site now has a 15th century Grade 2 listed ex-farmhouse and barn built on it, called Nether House at Offerton’. (The Star, Sheffield, Yorkshire: Exploring Hathersage’s connection to the legend of Little John and Robin Hood, by Lucy Ball, published 21st Jan 2021). There is a variation of this in Explore Peak District (online): ‘In later ballads, more of Little John’s character was revealed, and he was reputed to have originated from Hathersage, and even settled there again in later life. He died in a small cottage by the River Derwent – in this site now lies a grade-II farmhouse, named Nether House. It is also alleged that Little John chose his gravesite in St. Michael’s Church himself. He did this by firing an arrow from Robin Hood’s Stoop – a boundary stone located on nearby Offerton Moor – which landed in the Mew Tree above what became his burial site.’
** This is Joseph C. Walker’s Historical Essay on the Dress of the Ancient and Modern Irish: To Which is Subjoined, A Memoir on the Armour and Weapons of the Irish, Dublin, 1788. The information about Little John being executed on Arbor Hill, Dublin, appears on p. 129; this is the ‘Mr. Walker’ quoted by Joseph Ritson in no. 5 above.
7. Spencer T. Hall (1812-1885) published The Peak and the Plain in 1853; he did not agree with the scepticism of Rhodes (no. 6 above). Hall thought that the tradition contained some truth, and some of his information appears in Annals of a Yorkshire House (no. 11 below). Hall states: ‘As the story runs, Little John, (so called in Jest,) otherwise John Little, or more probably John-le-Tall, was born somewhere in Derbyshire or Staffordshire, in the early part of the thirteenth century, and brought up to the business of nail-making, till his gigantic stature, strength, and prowess, determined him on going an adventurer into the world. Little is know of him before the battle of Evesham, which took place in August, 1265, at which time he was found with the rebels or patriots under Montfort, when, sharing in the general defeat, and being outlawed with Robin Hood and others, a party of them retired, as Fordun intimates, “into the fastnesses and thickets;” – and where so likely as the neighbourhood from which they had first gone, and in which they could best rely upon popular sympathy and aid?’ etc. Hall continues: ‘At length, Robin Hood having died and been buried by Little John in Kirklees Park, according to his own request, with “his bow in his hand, and a green sod under his head – another at his feet,” John soon began to feel that his own turn was coming, and set out with a view to rest his ashes in his native place. But tradition says that, when on his journey, he no sooner saw the vale of Hathersage from a hill on the Yorkshire side, than from some extraordinary presentment he exclaimed that it was the place where he should die; and on reaching a cottage near the church-yard gate, he entered it, and shortly breathed his last. About ten years since, I was in that cottage. I went also to the grave to which he is said, to have been carried from it.’ Hall observed ‘two grey and worn-down stones’ on Little John’s grave. He describes the cottage, where then lived Jenny Sherd ‘who had full faith, not only in Little John having died in the cottage, and having been buried in the church-yard, but that it was the very grave still pointed out, with a little stone at each end, which stones some foolish young men, once working at another grave, had placed further apart than they originally were.’ Hall asked Jenny Sherd what she knew about the subject, and she said that she was born in that cottage ‘and was now (1841) seventy years old’, and her father, William Bohem ‘had dwelt in it from his youth’. Hall further relates that: ‘He [Bohem] received from his predecessors, at the time he entered upon it, the assurance that Little John had died there; and they had received the same information, sixty years before, from those who had preceded them; and this was the way in which the tradition had been preserved from Little John’s time, not only by the successive tenants of that house, but by almost every old family in the village.’
Jenny Sherd (according to Hall’s account) gives a description of the cottage in its early days, then Hall continues: ‘and there was a statement in the tradition, that his body [Little John’s] stretched nearly across the floor when he was dead. Her father who, though a working tailor, was a learned and intelligent man, having a good knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages, and being, withal, very scrupulous about crediting idle tales, had full faith in the whole story, believing that an entire parish could never have consented to a falsehood on the subject, and especially as most well-informed people, for many miles round, gave their implicit credence to the fact. Jenny well remembered, she said, when Little John’s grave was opened by Captain James Shuttleworth, and a great thigh-bone brought from it into the cottage and measured upon her father’s tailoring board, when it was found to be thirth-two inches in length; and, though decayed a little at the ends, it was thick throughout in proportion to that length. Two shovels had been broken in digging the grave, and the bone had been broken near the middle by the third shovel striking it; but she declared that the parts corresponded with each other exactly, and that there was no artifice or deception in fitting them together. The name of the sexton who opened the grave was Philip Heaton, and the great bone was taken by Captain James Shuttleworth to the Hall; but his brother, Captain John, was so offended at him for having it exhumed, and he met with so many severe accidents-two of them in the church-yard-while it was in his possession, that at the end of a fortnight he had it re-placed. Some years after, however, being with his regiment in garrison, at Montrose in Scotland, he sent to her father, promising him a guinea if he would take it up again and send it to him in a box; but her father would not comply with the request. When she was about twenty years old, a party of “great folk” from Yorkshire, had it re-exhumed, and took it with them to Cannon Hall, near Barnsley. Up to that time, Little John’s cap was kept hanging by a chain in the church, [as it is said his bow had done till within the last century,] but even this, the tasteless and foolish party in question also took with them. Jenny said she remembered all this very well; and, with every other old person in the village, had a particularly distinct recollection of the green cap that hung in the church, and which “everybody knew” to be Little John’s.’ Hall leaves us to our own conclusion. See, Spencer T. Hall, The Peak and the Plain, London, 1853, pp. 30-36).
8. William Bemrose Junior (1831-1908) gives some interesting information in The Reliquary, Quarterly Archaeological Journal and Review of 1868-69. He informs us that Hathersage Church was built by Robert Eyre*
* This appears to be incorrect: in Martin F. H. Hulbert’s Let These Stones Live, p. 9 (no. 15 below) it is stated: ‘Sir Robert Eyre restored it to its present form. For that is another old tradition – the company of local men who followed Sir Nicholas Eyre and his son Robert to fight with Henry V on the famous field of St. Crispin’s Day. The Records Office have failed to give an actual proof, but the story is repeated in most Peakland books coupled with the incorrect statement that Sir Robert ‘built Hathersage Church”.
In a note, Bemrose gives his version of the tradition:
‘The current tradition in Derbyshire concerning Little John is that he was born at Hathersage, in that county; that he was a man of immense stature, and of wonderful strength and prowess; that he was withal of mild and gentle temperament, of affectionate disposition, and faithful in his attachments; that after the death of Robin Hood, at Kirklees, which he took deeply to heart, he was so dispirited that he sank under the loss, and having by great exertion succeeded in reaching the place of his birth, (Hathersage,) he was welcomed by his friends and old associates, who begged him to tarry with them for the rest of his life; that he had just strength enough left to point out the place in the churchyard where he wished to be buried, and to give them instructions for his burial; that he told them in three days he should die, and desired that his bow and cap should be hung up in the church; that on the third day he died, in a small cottage still standing, where, it is said, his length was so great when dead and “laid out,” that his feet came outside the door; that he was buried where he had directed, his cap and bow being hung in the chancel of the church; that the people drave his last arrow into the ground near his grave, and that it took root and grew up into a tree. It is asserted that until within the last sixty or seventy years, his cap – a green cloth one – still hung high in the chancel, but was then taken away by some people from Yorkshire, who also despoiled his grave, and took away the thigh bones, which were found to be of immense length. The grave, which is marked by two small upright stones, one at the head and the other at the foot, measures about ten feet in length. In 1728 it was opened, and bones of an enormous size found in it. Some years ago, it was again opened, and a thigh bone measuring thirty-two inches taken away from it.’* Bemrose also supplies a somewhat different version of Elias Ashmole’s record: “Little John lyes buried in Hatherseech Church yard within 3 miles fro Castleton in High Peake with one Stone set up at his head and another at his Feete, but a large distance betweene them. They say a part of his bow hangs up in the said Church. Neere Grindleford Bridge are Robin Hoods 2 Pricks.” (see, no. 2 above).
* Bemrose could have borrowed some information from Spencer T. Hall (no. 7 above).
Bemrose also states that: ‘There are to be seen at the present time, in the churchyard, two stones upwards of ten feet apart, said to have been placed at the head and feet of “Little John,” and this is still pointed out as “Little John’s grave.” The cottage called “Little John’s cottage,” has only recently been pulled down.’ Bemrose also mentions the monuments and monumental brasses of the Eyre family in the church, and some information about the family. See, The Reliquary, Quarterly Archaeological Journal and Review, Vol. IX. 1868-9, London and Derby, pp. 201-2. Also in, North Lees Hall: Derbyshire, and The Family of Eyre. By William Bemrose, Jun. [Privately Reprinted from the “Reliquary Quarterly Archaeological Journal and Review.” Edited by Llewellynn Jewitt, F.S.A., for April, 1869. London and Derby: Bemrose and Sons, pp. 3-4.
9. There are some lines of inquiry in Joseph Hunter’s Hallamshire (A New and Enlarged Edition, by the Rev. Alfred Gatty, published in 1869). Gatty includes a written account by the Rev. Charles Spencer Stanhope (1795-1874):
‘In illustration of the traditions respecting Robin Hood and his merry men, the editor would mention that when he was at Cannon Hall, near Barnsley, he was shown by J. Spencer Stanhope, Esq., a large ancient bow, said to have belonged to Little John, the lieutenant of Robin Hood’s band; and he requested Mr. Stanhope’s brother, the Rev. Charles Spencer Stanhope, to write for him the traditionary history of this weapon. The account given was as follows: “Oct. 5, 1865. There is a bow at Cannon Hall, said to have been the bow of Little John, bearing on it the name of Col. Naylor, 1715, who, tradition said, was the last man who bent it and shot a deer with it. There was also a cuirass of chain mail, and an arrow or two, which were said to have belonged to Little John, but these were lost in repairs of the house about 1780; but I have heard my father say* that the cuirass had been much reduced by people stealing rings from it for memory. Hathersage, in Derbyshire, was an estate formerly belonging to the Spencer family, and was left by the last Spencer to the son of his eldest daughter, John Ashton Shuttleworth, Esq. In this churchyard was the head and foot stone of the grave of Little John, and his bow, arrows, and cuirass, according to Ashmole as I am told, used to hang up in the chancel of Hathersage Church. From thence they have long disappeared, and a bow, &c., are found at Cannon Hall, a seat of the Spencers, who were also owners of Hathersage, and this bow was always known by the name of Little John’s bow. It is of spliced yew, great size, and above six feet long, though the ends where the horns were attached are broken off. The late James Shuttleworth, who died about 1826, had the grave opened, I fancy about 1780, and the only bone which was found, beyond what instantly crumbled to dust, was a thigh-bone of the extraordinary length of 28½ inches. I remember in the year 1820, when Sir Francis, father of Sir Charles Wood, Bart., of Hickleton (now Lord Halifax), was at Cannon Hall, on my recounting this anecdote, sending up for the old woodman Hinchliffe, who told it me, and he took a two foot rule out of his pocket, and extending the little slide showed the exact length. He mentioned besides that he was the gravedigger’s son, and was present at the disinterring of the said bone, and another anecdote which is of no importance to relate. After a discussion about making a grave for one of the family, the Major said, ‘Break up the grave of my uncle Benjamin Ashton, he has been dead above fifty years. This was done, but the body was found entire and sound, as he said, as heart of oak. He was an immensely fat man, and no part had disappeared but the feet and hands, for he had died of gout: so antiseptic it appears is the soil of this churchyard. So deponeth Charles Spencer Stanhope.’’’
* The father is Walter Spencer-Stanhope (1749-1821), who is mentioned in Annals of a Yorkshire House (no.11 below).
Gatty continues: ‘The editor was favoured in July, 1866, with a further interesting communication from the same pen. “Copied from Pilkington’s View of Derbyshire, published in 1803 [no. 3 above]. Heresiage. Hathersage. According to tradition the famous Little John, Robin Hood’s companion, lies buried in the churchyard, with one stone at his head and another at his feet. It is also said that in the year 1632 (should be 1652) his bow was hanging up in the church (from a loose paper in Mr. Ashmole’s handwriting in the Oxford Museum). The grounds of this tradition have lately been fully examined. The distance betwixt the two stones which are said to be placed at the head and feet of Little John is about four yards and a quarter, and from the great length of the grave it was presumed that some very tall man was buried in it. With a view of gaining full and satisfactory information in regard to this point, the ground has been dug up at several different times. [Mr. Charles Stanhope here observes, “The information our old woodman, a man about 70, gave me about 1820 was, that he was son of the old clerk and sexton, and that he had heard his father say that the bone had been lifted and buried again several times, and that his father always insisted upon fees for his work.”] But no bones were found till the year 1784, when the earth was penetrated to a greater depth than it had ever been at any former period. A thigh-bone was then discovered which very much corresponded to the length of the grave. It measured 29½ inches, and was met with at the depth of two yards from the surface. It was kept about a year at a gentleman’s house in the village for the inspection of the curious, and then buried again in the ground from which it was taken. [Here again Mr. Charles Stanhope remarks, “Then comes by brother’s version, whose memory is more accurate than mine, that Captain Shuttleworth, brother of the squire of the parish, obtained the bone and hung it up in his room near his bed, and his nurse who was watching him on the occasion of a limb broken in hunting, said to him he would never have luck (for he had many similar accidents) as long as he kept dead men’s bones out of their graves, so he gave it back to the clerk to put it into the ground. But instead of this the clerk kept it in his window with a label explaining whose bone it was, and Sir George Strickland passing through Hathersage with my father* ran away with it. I was not far from the fact when I told you it was two feet four inches long.”] In regard to the bow to which Mr. Ashmole alludes, I have not been able to meet with anyone who has either seen or heard of it.’ ” Mr. C. S. S. adds, “My brother says the bow was removed from the church to the hall at Hathersage for better security in troublous times, and now professes to be at Cannon Hall, a place belonging to former owners of Hathersage.”’ See, Hallamshire. The History and Topography of the Parish of Sheffield in the County of York. By Joseph Hunter, A New and Enlarged Edition, by the Rev. Alfred Gatty, Sheffield and London, 1869, pp. 3-4. There is another edition: Hallamshire: The History and Topography of the Parish of Sheffield in the County of York. By Joseph Hunter, A New Edition, With Additions, by the Rev. Alfred Gatty, London, 1875, pp. 3-4.
* The father is Walter Spencer-Stanhope (1749-1821), who is mentioned in Annals of a Yorkshire House (no.11 below).
10. Information about Hathersage and its church is given by J. Charles Cox (1843-1919), in Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire, volume two, published in 1877. He tells us about fragments of ancient sepulchral slabs: ‘One fragment, which was found under the flooring of the church where the old pulpit stood, has been preserved, and is now fixed in the ground against the east wall of the churchyard, near the entrance gates. It consists of the upper half of a wide sepulchral slab, having double marginal lined incised round it, and the head of a floriated cross with fleur-de-lis terminations; there are also small shields in each of the upper angles. The stem of the cross passes between the Roman initials “L. J.” These initials are of a much later date than the cross, which we consider to be of early fourteenth century work, and show that the stone has at some time in its history been appropriated to commemorate a second interment. Popular ideas, ever ready to fasten on the smallest detail to corroborate a favourite tradition, were eager to associate this stone, at the time of its disclosement, with Little John, and pointed with triumph to the initials of his nickname.’ This suggests that Cox was hardly convinced, but J. W. Walker states that it was ‘The upper half of the original headstone’ (no. 14 below).
Cox continues: ‘There is a legend, firmly believed in by the good folk of Hathersage, that this village was the birthplace of Robin Hood’s most celebrated companion, and that in this graveyard he found his last resting-place. No inquiry or research has been spared by us in endeavouring to test the truth of this tradition, but we have ascertained little more than that this tradition was generally accepted more that two hundred years ago. Yet there certainly appears to be better reasons for its acceptance, than for its dismissal to the realms of fiction. Dr. Spencer Hall, in his Peak and the Plain, (no. 7 above) has well summed up the arguments bearing on Little John’s history. When he visited Hathersage, about thirty years ago, the small cottage near the church, that went by the name of “Little John’s house,” was still standing. The cottage was then occupied by one Jenny Sherd, 70 years of age. Her father had died, at the age of 92, twenty years previously, and he had received assurance of Little John having died in that cottage and being buried in the churchyard, when he entered on his tenancy. He also recollected that his predecessors had received a similar assurance sixty years previously, and thus from mouth to mouth had the tradition descended. The grave of Little John is to the south-west of the church, and is distinguished by two small upright stones about ten feet apart. These stones were yet further apart some years ago, but it is said that their position has been more than once tampered with by mischievous youths.’
This is followed by Cox’s note which was copied from Hall: “Jenny well remembered, she said, when Little John’s grave was opened by Captain James Shuttleworth, and a great thigh-bone brought from it into the cottage and measured upon her father’s tailoring board, when it was found to be thirth-two inches in length; and, though decayed a little at the ends, it was thick throughout in proportion to that length. Two shovels had been broken in digging the grave, and the bone had been broken near the middle by the third shovel striking it; but she declared that the parts corresponded with each other exactly, and that there was no artifice or deception in fitting them together. The name of the sexton who opened the grave was Philip Heaton, and the great bone was taken by Captain James Shuttleworth to the Hall; but his brother, Captain John, was so offended at him for having it exhumed, and he met with so many severe accidents-two of them in the churchyard-while it was in his possession, that at the end of a fortnight he had it replaced. Some years after, however, being with his regiment in garrison, at Montrose, in Scotland, he sent to her father, promising him a guinea if he would take it up again and send it to him in a box; but her father would not comply with the request. When she was about twenty years old, a party of ‘great folk’ from Yorkshire had it re-exhumed, and took it with them to Cannon Hall, near Barnsley. Up to that time Little John’s cap was kept hanging by a chain in the church, (as it is said his bow had done till within the last century), but even this the tasteless and foolish party in question also took with them. Jenny said she remembered all this very well; and, with every other old person in the village, had a particularly distinct recollection of the green cap that hung in the church, and which ‘everybody knew’ to be Little John’s.”
Cox continues: ‘Nor was Little John’s cap the only relic of Robin Hood’s companion formerly kept in this church. A memorandum, taken by Mr. Elias Ashmole (no. 2 above) states that this hero’s bow was suspended in the church in 1652. A contributor to a Derbyshire journal recently gave some further information relative to the subsequent history of this bow:- “It may not be generally known that the identical bow of Little John, the companion of Robin Hood, now hangs up in Cannon Hall, near Barnsley, where it has been more than a century. Previous to that time it was in Hathersage Church, Derbyshire, when it was removed by Mr. John Spencer, of Cannon Hall and Hathersage, whose mother, Miss Ashton, was heiress of that property, which descended to the present Mr. Ashton Shuttleworth through his grandmother, Miss Spencer, the eldest co-heiress of that family.” It thus appears that both bow and cap found the same resting-place.’
Cox then quotes from a note to the new edition of Hunter’s Hallamshire, by the late Rev. Charles Spencer Stanhope, dated 5th October, 1865 (no. 9 above). Cox saw that Stanhope’s account ‘clashes in some particulars with that given by Dr. Spencer Hall (no. 7 above), but as it is the more likely to be correct, coming from one of the family, we have thought it best to give it at length.’ Cox continues: ‘It will be noticed that the Rev. C. S. Stanhope makes no allusion to Little John’s cap. If this “Cap” had been still extant, it would have been of much value in testing the question of the position held by its owner, and of more worth than the bow as to comparative antiquity; but a letter addressed to us by Walter Spencer Stanhope, Esq., M.P., the present owner of Cannon Hall, dated 2nd June, 1876, says:- “I never heard of any cap having been part of the relics of Little John which were brought to Cannon Hall, neither is there any such article now preserved here.”’*
* Some new revelations are noted by Cox: ‘It has been suggested that this bow probably belonged to one of the warriors of the Eyre family, and had no connection with a mere marauding forester; and this suggestion is favoured by the statement that the bow, with the other relics, formerly hung over the altar-tomb of the first Robert Eyre, of Padley. Nicholas Eyre, of Hope, the father of Robert, took part in the battle of Agincourt, and it has been further conjectured that this was the weapon he there used. But though this may have been the case with the cuirass (an unlikely accoutrement for a forester), surely the bow was not then used by any but the rank and file, and did not come within the category of knightly weapons.’
Cox continues: ‘Our own inquiries, made at different times at Hathersage, convince us that a green cap did formerly hang in the church, and the tradition respecting the cap seems even more vivid than that of the bow, as is only likely to be the case, owing to its later removal. On the whole, the evidence warrants us in assuming that a portion of the weapons and accontrements peculiar to a forester were hung up in this church, that the said forester (both from the bow and grave) was of exceptional stature, that both weapons and grave were popularly assigned to Little John more than two centuries ago, and that the said weapons, etc., must have belonged to a man of extraordinary fame, or they would not have found such a resting place. This being the case, the opponents of the accuracy of the tradition seem to us to have far more difficulties with which to contend than those who accept it.’ Cox has made his position clear; he sees the tradition as having some truth. See, Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire, J. Charles Cox, vol. 2, Chesterfield, London, and Derby, 1877, pp. 235-39.
11. In her Annals of a Yorkshire House, Volume two, published in 1911, Anna Maria Wilhelmina Stirling (1865-1965) tells us that Walter Stanhope visited Hathersage in 1776 ‘and whilst there, he made inquiries respecting the tale of Little John.’ Walter Stanhope (1749-1822 was a British industrialist and politician, who took the name Spencer-Stanhope after inheriting Cannon Hall. Stirling doesn’t actually quote any of Walter Spencer-Stanhope’s writings about Little John, and she uses material gleaned from earlier sources. She borrows from Spencer T. Hall’s Peak and the Plain (no. 7 above), and from Joseph Hunter’s Hallamshire (no. 9 above). Stirling does offer some information from Walter Spencer-Stanhope’s daughter and son.* A greater part of Stirling’s books dealt with the lives and recollections of the landed British gentry of Yorkshire, which were sometimes a questionable source of biographical information.
* In a note concerning information on p. 69, Stirling states: ‘This account was written down by Miss Frances Stanhope in 1820, she having received it from an old woodman aged seventy, son of the clerk and sexton at Hathersage, who affirmed that his father used to say the bone had been buried and unburied several times, and that he always insisted upon fees for the work.’ Stirling also quotes Mr. Charles Stanhope [Frances’s brother], ‘writing later’ (also in Hunter’s Hallamshire, no. 9 above): “I remember, in the year 1820, when Sir Francis, father of Sir Charles Wood, Bt., of Hickleton (now Lord Halifax) was at Cannon Hall, on my recounting this anecdote, sending for the old woodman, Hinchcliffe, who told it to me; the latter took a foot-rule out of his pocket and extending the little slide showed the exact length [of the thigh-bone found]. He mentioned besides that he was the grave-digger’s son and was present at the disinterring of the said bone.”
Stirling writes: ‘This famous companion of Robin Hood, who had been a native of Hathersage, was brought up to the local industry of nail-making, till his wonderful strength and prowess made him try his fortune elsewhere. Little is known of his career, however, till the battle of Evesham in 1265, when he fought with the rebels under Simon de Montfort, who was defeated, and Little John with Robin Hood and many of the Earl’s followers were outlawed. They forthwith retired to the woods, and, escaping the arm of justice, lived a jolly, free life, till old age overtook them. Robin Hood died at the age of fourscore, and was buried by Little John in Kirklees Park, after which Little John sought out his native village, where he wished to lay his own bones. As he approached the Vale of Hathersage, it is said he remarked that his career would soon be ended, and on arriving at a cottage near the church, he entered it, and shortly after breathed his last. From that time his great bow with some arrows and a lot of chain armour were hanging in Hathersage church, together, it is said, with a green cap suspended by a chain; but when William Spencer became possessed of Hathersage, he caused the bow and armour to be removed to Cannon Hall for safer keeping.’*
* There is a note by Stirling: ‘Colonel Naylor, a relation of the Spencers, is supposed to have been the last man who ever strung the bow. I bears his name with the date 1715, when he is said to have shot a deer with it, the horn at both points being then perfect. It required a power of 160 lb. to draw it to its full. It is of spliced yew, and above feet long, although the ends where the horns were attached are now broken off.’
Stirling continues: ‘Stanhope, as the owner of the famous bow, therefore viewed with interest the site in the churchyard which tradition pointed out as the grave of Little John. The distance between the stones, which were said to be placed the one at the head and the other at the feet of the famous outlaw, was about four yards and a quarter, and from the great length of the grave it was obvious that some very tall man has been interred in it. No satisfactory information, however, could be obtained on the subject, for although the ground had been dug up at several different times, no human remains had been discovered there. Owing to the interest which Stanhope evinced in the matter, his cousin James Shuttleworth, some time after his return to England, caused the ground to be dug to a greater depth than had previously been the case, with the result that, at a distance of two yards below the surface, a human thigh-bone was discovered of abnormal proportions.’
Stirling continues with her version of some of the information borrowed from Hall (no. 7 above): ‘Hard by, was the actual cottage where Little John was said to have breathed his last, and which was at this date inhabited by a woman named Jenny Sherd who long used to relate how the great bone was laid on her father’s tailoring board and measured. Two shovels had been broken in digging the grave, while the third had slightly damaged the bone, but the split parts corresponded exactly, and when measured it proved to be, according to her account, thirty-two inches in length, also, although decayed a little at the ends, it was thick throughout in proportion to that size.’*
* There are notes by Stirling: (1) ‘Mr Spencer Hall relates that when he visited Hathersage, the cottage was occupied by Jenny Sherd, then seventy years of age, her father had died at the age of ninety-two, twenty years previously, and he had received assurance of Little John having died in that cottage when he entered his tenancy. His predecessors had also received a similar assurance sixty years previously, and thus from mouth to mouth had the tradition descended.’ (2) ‘There is a slight discrepancy in the different accounts of its size, as the sexton’s son stated it to have been from 28½ to 29 inches; but all accounts tally that its proportions were undoubtedly abnormal.’
Stirling continues: ‘Although his brother was angry at his having disturbed the grave, Captain Shuttleworth took the bone in triumph with him to Cannon Hall to show Stanhope, and the two young men afterwards exhibited it to the old huntsman there, who had often been at Hathersage. But the latter shook his head. “No good will come to either of ye,” he affirmed solemnly, “so long as ye keep dead men’s bones above ground.” The cousins laughed at his verdict, but the following day James Shuttleworth had a bad spill out hunting, and so had Stanhope. None the less James Shuttleworth, despised the warning, and taking the bone back again to Hathersage, hung it up over his bed there. Bad luck, however, pursued Stanhope even after his departure. One accident after another befell him, till at last he was the victim of one from which he narrowly escaped with his life.’ There is a description of Stanhope’s accident etc.
Stirling continues: ‘None the less, he [Stanhope] sent an account of his misadventure to his cousin Shuttleworth, and received in reply the news that the latter had had but little better luck. He, too, had had a series of accidents, two of which occurred in the churchyard itself, so that he had begun to feel there must be something in the words of the old huntsmen. At last to him likewise there happened a worse accident that any he had previously experienced, and while he lay ill in bed after it, the nurse who was attending him, looking at the trophy over his bed, happened to echo the old huntsmen’s words: “You will never have luck, you know,” she said, “so long as you keep dead men’s bones out of their graves.” Struck by the reiteration of the same statement and its obvious fulfilment, James Shuttleworth could withstand it no longer. He hurriedly sent the bone back to the sexton with orders to put it without an hour’s delay safely back into the grave whence it had been taken, it is said, only a fortnight previously. From that time forward neither he nor Stanhope had any more accidents. Despite this fact, Captain James Shuttleworth appears afterwards to have repented of his timidity, and some years later when he was with his regiment in Montrose, he wrote to Jenny Sherd’s father promising him a guinea if he would take the bone up again privately and send it to him in a box, but Jenny’s father refused to comply with the request, for the excellent reason, which he did not venture to state, that the bone was no longer in Hathersage. More than a year after its supposed re-interment, Stanhope was passing through Hathersage in company with Mr, afterwards Sir William Strickland, when they decided to spend the night at the inn. Over the fire, after dinner, Stanhope related the strange story of the discovery of the thighbone, of the subsequent series of accidents which had befallen both him and his cousin, and the remarkable cessation of these disasters after the bone had been restored to the grave. Mr. Strickland was deeply interested in the account, but ridiculed there being any connection between these strange happenings. Finally, to prove his disbelief, he sent for the sexton and boldly offered the man half-a-crown if he would disinter the ill-omened bone and bring it to the inn. The bone was produced, but in a suspiciously short time; and Mr. Strickland examining it, triumphantly pointed out to Stanhope that inside it was a particularly fine cobweb – convincing proof that it had never been replaced in the grave! Further inquiries elicited the fact that the sexton had for some time past been exhibiting it secretly to curious strangers at the charge of 6d. per head. Mr. Strickland, convinced that the relic was not so dangerous as had been reported, refused to part with his trophy, which he carried off in delight, no doubt to the dismay of the sexton, who had not only made a profit by its exhibition, but had charged fees upon each occasion of the real or fictitious burials and disinterments of it at which he had officiated. It is said to have been on this same occasion that the green cap was also removed from the church at Hathersage, for Jenny Sherd used to relate how, when she was but twenty years old, “a party of great folk from Yorkshire” took away with them these last two relics of Little John. Of the fate of the cap no trace remains, but it would seem that the bone sustained its reputation of bringing ill-luck to the person of its possessor, for Sir William Strickland finally caused it to be buried under a tree at his own home.’ See, Annals of a Yorkshire House, A. M. W. Stirling, Vol. 2, London and New York, 1911, pp. 63-70. Stirling’s Annals records several letters and notes of the Stanhope family and Walter Spencer-Stanhope’s journals; the originals I believe, are now kept at the Barnsley Archive and Local Studies Department; the West Yorkshire Archive Service, Bradford; and Leeds University Library, Special Collections.
12. J. W. Walker (1859-1953) includes some information about Little John and Hathersage in The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal of 1944. Walker mentions the various families that inherited the Hathersage estate: ‘The manors of Hathersage and Over Padley were, by a deed dated 31 December, 1657, granted to Rowland Morwood of Norton, esquire, by William Fitzherbert of Norbury, esquire and his son Basil. The Morwoods held these manors for some years, then they were conveyed to Robert Ashton of Stoney Middleton by a fine levied Michaelmas, 1673. By Robert Ashton’s will dated 24 August, 1683, his estate was bequeathed to his five sons and one daughter, each receiving a specified legacy. Benjamin Ashton, the third son, inherited the estate of Hathersage. He left one son Benjamin and two daughters, Christiana and Alicia Maria, the latter of whom married Charles, son and heir of Thomas Bagshaw of Bakewell. The younger Benjamin died in 1725 without issue; he left one half of his estate to his nephew Thomas Bagshaw, son of his sister Alicia Maria; the Hathersage estate was bequeathed to his sister Christiana, the wife of William Spencer of Cannon Hall, near Barnsley, from whom it passed to James the eldest son of their daughter Christiana, the wife of Captain William Shuttleworth, who succeeded to the Hathersage estate in 1780.’
At this point, Walker borrows some of the information found in Annals of a Yorkshire House (no. 11 above): ‘Four years later James Shuttleworth caused the grave of Little John in Hathersage Churchyard (which was marked by two stones, thirteen feet four inches apart, one at the head the other at the foot, on the south side of the church near the porch, each lettered J.L.), to be opened when there was exhumed at a depth of six feet from the surface a thigh bone 28½ inches long, which was ordered to be reburied; but the sexton kept it at his own house and exhibited it to strangers at a charge of 6d. a head. Later William Spencer* was passing through Hathersage in company with Sir William Strickland (then Mr. Strickland), when the latter, to the dismay of the sexton, carried off the bone, and caused it to be buried under a tree at his own home at Boynton.’
* Printed as ‘Stanhope’ in Annals of a Yorkshire House (no. 11 above).
Walker continues: ‘Little John’s cuirass of chain mail, his bow and arrows hung for many years in the chancel of Hathersage church, but were removed by William Spencer, when he became possessed of Hathersage in 1729, to Cannon Hall for better security. Unfortunately during the alterations to Cannon Hall by the architect, John Carr, in 1778, for the reception of Walter Spencer-Stanhope’s bride, Winifred Pulleine, the cuirass disappeared, and has never since been traced. I have examined the bow which is made of spliced yew, about six feet in length, though the ends where the horn tips were attached are broken off. It required a power of 160 pounds to draw the bow to its full extent. Only 60 pounds is the power used by men now at archery meetings. Carved on the bow is the date 1715 and the name of Col. Naylor, who in that year strung the bow and shot a stag with it. It has never been strung since.* In a loose paper in Mr. Ashmole’s writing in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford is the following note:- “The famous Little John (Robin Hood’s companion) lyes buried in Hethersedge churchyard in the peak of Derbyshire, one stone at his head, another at his feet, and part of his bow hangs in the chancell. Anno 1652.” (Ashmole MS. 1137, f. 147). In Anecdotes of Archery (No. 4 above), Hargrove says that there may yet be distinguished some remains of letters J.L.** on each of the large stones placed at the head and foot of Little John’s grave at Hathersage. 1792.’
* Walker’s information about the bow is similar to that which appears in Annals of a Yorkshire House (no. 11 above).
** Hargrove actually has the letters as I. L. ‘I’ being a medieval form of ‘J’.
Waker does add some new information, but he has undoubtedly borrowed from Annals of a Yorkshire House (no. 11 above) as well as from others. See, The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, Part 141, (Being the first part of Volume XXXVI.), [Issued to members only], 1944, ‘Robin Hood Identified’ by J. W. Walker, pp. 44 – 46.
13. Percy Valentine Harris (1898–1989?) mentions Little John and his association with Hathersage in The Truth About Robin Hood, first published in 1951. Harris provides some information, borrowed to some extent, from Hunter’s Hallamshire (no. 9 above), and probably J. W. Walker (no. 12 above). Harris states: ‘Little John appears to have left only one bow. It is mentioned on a loose paper in the Ashmole MS. at Oxford: “The famous Little John lyes buried in Hathersuch Church-yard within 3 miles from Castleton in the High Peak, with one stone set up at his head, and another at his feete, but a large distance between them. They say part of his bow hangs in the church chancell.” This bow, together with a couple of arrows and a cuirass of chain mail, were removed from the church and taken to Cannon Hall, near Barnsley, where the bow is still kept, though the cuirass was lost in a fire many years ago.* The bow was last used by a Col. Naylor in 1715, a curious coincidence, as Ritson says that Little John’s name was Nailor, and that his descendents were living in the Hathersage district “to this day.”** The bow is of spliced yew, and over six feet long, though the ends, where the horns were attached, are broken off. On Little John’s head and foot stones the initials “I.L.” were still to be distinguished in 1792. (E. Hargrove, Anecdotes of Archery). The grave was opened in 1784, and dug to a greater depth than ever before. Two yards from the surface a thigh bone of the extraordinary length of 29½ inches was found. The Rev. Charles Spencer Stanhope relates: Captain Shuttleworth, brother of the squire of the parish, obtained the bone and hung it up in his room near his bed, and his nurse who was watching him on the occasion of a limb broken in hunting, said to him he would never have luck (for he had many similar accidents) as long as he kept dead men’s bones out of their graves, so he gave it back to the clerk to put it in to the ground. But instead of this the clerk kept it in his window with a label explaining whose bone it was, and Sir George Strickland passing through Hathersage with my father, ran away with it. (In Hunter’s Hallamshire.)’***
* None of the other authors mention the cuirass being lost in a fire.
** See, Joseph Ritson, no. 5 above.
*** See, Hunter’s Hallamshire, no. 9 above.
Harris continues with some information borrowed from Ritson (no. 5 above): ‘Scotland also claimed to have a grave of a Little John. “In Murray land is the kirke of Pette, quhare the banis of lytill Johne remanis in gret admiratioun of pepill. He has bene fourtene fut of hycht with square membris effering thairto.” (Boece). He thought that this John must have been called “Little” per ironiam. Richard Stanyhurst relates in his Description of Ireland in Holinshed’s Chronicle that Little John stayed a few days in Dublin after Robin Hood’s death, and afterwards fled to Scotland, where he died, but Ritson says that a Mr. Walker, (evidently John Walker, 1770-1831)* states that “it appeared, from some records in the Southwell family, that he was publicly executed on Arbor-hill, Dublin.” No one else has ever mentioned these mysterious records, and one can but think that they were invented because Ireland wished to share some association with the popular heroes.’
* Harris is mistaken, this is actually Joseph C. Walker. See, Joseph Ritson, no. 5 above.
Harris provides an image, and below it is printed: ‘Mr. H. C. Haldane holding Little John’s bow when it was at Cannon Hall. It is now in the Wakefield Museum.’ I can find no evidence that the bow was deposited in the Wakefield Museum, but there is also a mention of this by J. W. Walker (no. 14 below).
See, The Truth About Robin Hood, P. Valentine Harris, London, 1951 and 8th edition, 1960, pp. 39-40.
14. J. W. Walker (no. 12 above) adds more information about Little John in The True History of Robin Hood (West Yorkshire Print. Co., Wakefield, 1952): ‘Little John is said to have retired to Hathersage, a village situated near the eastern end of Hope Dale in Derbyshire. Here he lived, according to tradition, in a cottage with exceedingly thick walls, mantled with ivy and shaded by trees. The interior consisted only of one large room, which was open to the rig-tree. In this cottage he is said to have died. In a paper in Mr. Ashmole’s writing in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford is the following note: “The famous Little John (Robin Hood’s companion) lyes buried in Hathersage churchyard in the Peak of Derbyshire, one stone at his head, another at his feet, and his bow hangs in the chancel of the church.” The upper half of the original headstone, measuring 5 feet in length by 4½ feet in breadth, has been placed within the south porch of the church; it bears an incised cross flory, the shaft of which lies between the letters L.I.* The Ancient Order of Foresters so strongly believes in the traditions of Robin Hood and Little John that a hundred of its Courts have been named after Robin Hood, thirty after Little John, and fourteen after Maid Marian. Little John’s grave is marked by two stones, 13 feet 4 inches apart, one at the head the other at the foot, on the south side of the church porch, which were placed there by the Ancient Order of Foresters, the headstone bearing the inscription: “Here lies Little John, the Friend and Lieutenant of Robin Hood.” On a large scrolled stone by the side of the railings enclosing the grave is carved an antlered stag’s head issuing from a crown, with beneath: “The care of this grave was undertaken by the Ancient Order of Foresters Friendly Society, June 24, 1929.”’
* This is undoubtedly the same stone mentioned by Cox (no. 10 above).
Walker continues with similar information to that which he supplied in The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal of 1944 (no. 12 above): ‘The manor of Hathersage in the seventeenth century belonged to the family of Fitzherbert, of Norbury, co. Derby, but by a deed dated December 31, 1657, William Fitzherbert granted to Rowland Morwood of Norton, esquire, the two manors of Hathersage and Over Padley. At Michaelmas, 1673 these manors were acquired by Robert Ashton of Stoney Middleton, co. Derby. By his will, dated August 24, 1683, his estate was bequeathed to his five sons and one daughter. Benjamin, the third son, received the manor of Hathersage; his son Benjamin dying without issue this manor passed to his sister Christiana, who married William Spencer of Cannon Hall, Yorkshire in 1715.’
Walker continues with information similar to that in Annals of a Yorkshire House (no. 11 above): ‘The manor ultimately passed to William their grandson, fourth son of Richard Shuttleworth of Gawthorpe, whose son James on succeeding to the estate, caused the grave of Little John to be opened, when there was exhumed at a depth of six feet from the surface a human thigh-bone 28½ inches long, which James Shuttleworth carried off to Cannon Hall to show to his cousin Walter Stanhope; the two young men then exhibited it to the old huntsman there, who shook his head, and said “No good will come to either of ye so long as ye keep dead men’s bones above ground.” The cousins laughed at his verdict and James Shuttleworth took the bone back to Hathersage and hung it up over his bed. The following day, September 20, Walter Stanhope had a bad spill out hunting, he was thrown from his horse and hung up by the stirrup, the horse ran away, striking him on the head at every step, suddenly the stirrup buckle broke and he was released, otherwise he must have inevitably have been killed.’*
* There is a note by Walker: ‘Kindly communicated to me by the late John Montagu Stanhope, Esq.’
Walker continues with more information largely borrowed from Annals of a Yorkshire House (no. 11 above): ‘James Shuttleworth had two accidents which happened in the church-yard; later he had a worse accident than any he had previously experienced, and while he lay ill in bed, the nurse who was attending him, looking at the bone over his bed, echoed the old huntsman’s words: “You will never have luck, you know, so long as you keep dead men’s bones out of their graves.” Struck by the reiteration of the same statement and its obvious fulfilment, James Shuttleworth sent the bone back to the sexton with orders to put it back into the grave from which it had been taken only a fortnight previously. From that time forward neither he nor Stanhope had any accident. The sexton, however, instead of reburying the bone, kept it at his cottage and exhibited it to strangers at a charge of sixpence a head. More than a year after the supposed reinterment Mr. Stanhope was passing through Haversage in company with Sir William Strickland, Bt., son of Sir George Strickland, Bt. and his wife Elizabeth the daughter of Sir Rowland Winn, Bt. of Nostell Priory. They decided to stay the night at the inn, when Stanhope related the discovery of the thigh bone and the subsequent series of accidents. Strickland was deeply interested in the account and sent for the sexton, offering half-a-crown if he would disinter the ill-omened bone and bring it to the inn. The bone was produced, but in a suspiciously short time, and in it was a very fine cobweb-a convincing proof that it had never been replaced in the grave. Sir William would not part with his trophy, which he carried off in delight to the dismay of the sexton, who had not only made a profit by its exhibition, but had charged fees upon each occasion of the real or fictitious burials and disinterments of it at which he had officiated. It would seem that the bone sustained its reputation of bringing ill-luck to the person of its possessor, for Sir William Strickland finally caused it to be buried under a tree at his own home.*
* There is a note by Walker which is almost identical to that supplied in Annals of a Yorkshire House (no. 11 above): ‘This account was written by Miss Frances Stanhope in 1820; she having received it from an old woodman, son of the sexton at Hathersage, who affirmed that his father used to say the bone had been buried and unburied several times, and that he always insisted upon receiving fees for his work. The old woodman, Hinchcliffe, took a foot-rule out of his pocket and extending the little slide showed the exact length of the thigh bone found, 28½ inches. He mentioned that he was the grave-digger’s son and was present at the disinterring of the said bone.’
Walker continues with information similar to that in his article in The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal of 1944 (no. 12 above): ‘Little John’s cuirass of chain-mail, his bow and arrows hung for many years in the chancel of Hathersage church, but were removed by William Spencer, when he became possessed of Hathersage in 1729, for better security as was thought, to Cannon Hall. Unfortunately, during the alterations to that house by the architect, John Carr in 1778 for the reception of Walter Stanhope’s bride, Winifred Pulleine, the cuirass disappeared, and has never been recovered. I have examined the bow which was preserved at Cannon Hall until the Hall was sold in 1951, and Mrs. Spencer Stanhope retired to Banks Hall, Cawthorne. The bow is made of spliced yew, 6 feet 7 inches long, though the ends where the horn tips were attached are broken off, its girth at the centre is 5 inches, and its weight is 21 lbs. 2 ounces. It required a power of 160 pounds to draw the bow to its full extent. 60 pounds is the power now used by most men at archery meetings. Carved on the bow is the date 1715 and the name of Colonel Naylor, who in that year strung the bow and shot a buck with it at Cannon Park. It has never been strung since. At the time the two horns at the ends of the bow were perfect.’
At the very end of this chapter, Walker states: ‘Mrs. Spencer-Stanhope has deposited Little John’s Bow in the Wakefield Museum on long loan.’ Percy Valentine Harris (no. 13 above) also mentions that the bow ‘is now in the Wakefield Museum’, but I can find no evidence of this.*
* ‘J. W. Walker says that the owners, the Stanhope family, gave it to the Wakefield Museum although there is no longer any record of its whereabouts. (The museum staff believe that it was taken to a manor in Scotland.)’ See, Phillips and Keatman (Robin Hood: The Man Behind the Myth, Michael O’Mara Books Limited, London 1995, p. 104). This fits with the accepted information about the bow, which casts doubt on Walker’s claim. (see, Little John’s Bow Found).
Although Walker adds some new information, it is difficult to verify some of his claims, which are at odds with some of the information in Annals of a Yorkshire House (no. 11 above). Here it is stated that Little John died after he returned to Hathersage, shortly after he entered a cottage near the church. Walker says that he lived in the cottage when he returned to Hathersage, then at some stage, passed away. Walker also includes an image of ‘Little John’s Cottage Hathersage, 1832’ and another of ‘Little John’s Bow held by a six foot man.’ See, J. W. Walker, The True History of Robin Hood (Republished from the original edition of 1952, with a new index, by EP Publishing Limited East Ardsley, Wakefield Yorkshire, England), Chapter XXIII., pp. 128-32.
15. An interesting but somewhat chequered account of Little John and Hathersage is given by Martin F. H. Hulbert, in his book Let These Stones Live, published in 1982? Hulbert touches on the work of Ebenezer Rhodes, A. M. W. Stirling, Spencer T. Hall, and J. Charles Cox (all above). Hulbert begins with some general information about the Robin Hood legend, then on page three he writes: ‘The famous antiquarian Ashmole living over 300 years ago, said the bow was suspended in Hathersage Church in 1625,* and there seems no doubt that it did, also that it was hanging near the Eyre Monument. Rhodes in the Peak Scenery of 1822 scoffed at the idea, and related the less romantic explanation of a tall man from Offerton occupying the enormous grave in the churchyard. But there are other records to hand concerning Little John. An interesting book about the Stanhopes of Cannon Hall, near Barnsley, Annals of a Yorkshire House by A.M.W. Stirling, gives a full account of investigations made by Stanhope in 1776, he says** – ‘This famous companion of Robin Hood, who had been a native of Hathersage, was brought up to the local industry of nail making, till his wonderful strength and prowess made him try his fortunes elsewhere. Little is known of his career however till the Battle of Evesham in 1265, when he fought with the rebels under Simon de Montfort, who was defeated. Little John with Robin Hood and many of the Earl’s followers were outlawed. They forthwith retured to the woods, and, escaping the arm of justice, lived a jolly free life till old age overtook them. Robin Hood died at the age of fourscore and was buried by Little John in Kirklees Park, after which Little John sought out his native village, where he wished to lay his own bones. As he approached the Vale of Hathersage, it is said he remarked that his career would soon be ended, and shortly after he breathed his last. From that time his great bow with some arrows and some chain armour were hanging in Hathersage church, together it is said with a green cap suspended by a chain.”
* Most sources give Ashmole’s date as 1652.
** Stanhope doesn’t actually say what follows (see, Annals of a Yorkshire House, no. 11 above).
Under the heading ‘The Great Bow’, Hulbert continues: ‘The historians agree that until the middle of the 18th Century Little Johns bow with some arrows and some chain armour were hanging in Hathersage Church together with a green cap suspended by a chain. To understand what happened to these treasures we need to follow the fortunes of the family of the squire of Hathersage, Benjamin Ashton. When he died in 1725, his estate passed to his sister Christiana Spencer (she had married William Spencer of Canon Hall near Barnsley in 1715). William and Christiana had three children John, Christiana and Ann. Either William Spencer, (who succeeded his father in 1756 and died 1775 or his son John, caused Little John’s great bow and armour to be removed from Hathersage Church to Cannon Hall about the middle of the 18th Century. The alleged reason for removal was safe keeping owing to the then ‘parlous’ condition of the Church, of which the roof was leaking and weeds growing in the aisle. John’s sister Ann Spencer married Walter Stanhope who assumed the name Spencer-Stanhope and the bow remained at Cannon Hall in the possession of the Spencer-Stanhope family. Even when the house was acquired by Barnsley Corporation in 1951, the bow remained on loan for several years at Cannon Hall. Eventually Mr. J. Spencer-Stanhope left the bow to his daughter, Elizabeth Frazer (she married Lt. Com. later rear Admiral, the Hon George Frazer in 1920). Their son Mr. Simon Frazer had the bow at his home in Scotland in 1980. It is said that in 1715 a Colonel Naylor strung the bow and shot a deer with it. The Bow was made of spliced yew, 79 inches long tipped with horn, weighing 2 lb. and requiring a pull of 160 lbs to draw it. So of the three children of William and Christiana Spencer, John died unmarried. Ann, as we have seen married Walter Stanhope, and Christiana married Captain William Shuttleworth in 1748. Thus Christiana Shuttleworth as she became, inherited the Hathersage estates. We have seen what the Spencer-Stanhopes did with the bow at Cannon Hall, now we must record how the Shuttleworths at Hathersage discovered the Gigantic thigh bone.’
Hulbert then presents a small chart depicting the families above, followed by an image of ‘Mr. H. C. Haldane holding Little John’s bow outside Cannon Hall, Yorkshire’
Under the heading ‘The Gigantic Thigh Bone’ Hulbert continues: ‘William and Christiana Shuttleworth’s third son Captain James Shuttleworth on his return from the American War of Independence lived with his eldest brother John at Hathersage Hall, and in 1784 they had Little John’s grave opened. Six feet below the surface was found a gigantic human thigh bone. It was carried into a nearby house called Little John’s Cottage, the home of Mr Shard and found to measure 32 inches on his tailor’s board. (nearly one metre).
Hulbert then presents an image of ‘Little John’s Cottage, Hathersage as it stood 100 years ago.’
Hulbert continues with information probably borrowed from Annals of a Yorkshire House (no. 11 above): ‘When an old huntsman saw it he shook his head and remarked ‘No good will come to either of ye, so long as ye keep dead mens bones above ground!’ They laughed at him, but sure enough when Captain James had the bone hung over his bed, he suffered a whole series of accidents, including a bad fall while hunting, some records suggest the bone was moved to his cousin’s at Cannon Hall, where a similar series of accidents followed. The Parish Clerk was told to put the bone back in the grave, but instead it is said he took it home with him and had it on display at sixpence a time until he was finally persuaded to put it back in the grave.’
Hulbert continues: ‘Dr, Spencer Hall, in his ‘Peak and the Plain’ describes his visit to Hathersage in 1847. He saw Little John’s cottage still standing at the East end of the church, occupied by Jenny Shard now 70 years old. Her father had died some 20 years before at the age of 92. He had assured her that Little John had died in that cottage before being buried in the Churchyard. Jenny well remembered when Little John’s grave was opened by Captain James Shuttleworth, and the great thigh-bone brought from it into the cottage and measured on her father’s tailoring board.’
Under the heading ‘The Grave of Little John’ there is an image of Little John’s headstone followed by: ‘A modern stone on the south side of the grave states: ‘The care of this grave was undertaken by the Ancient Order of Foresters Friendly Society, June 24 th, 1929.
Hulbert continues: ‘It is interesting that the great Dr. Charles Cox went into the Little John story very fully in his Churches of Derbyshire, published 1876, and he by no means scoffed. I will quote up his summing up of the case – ‘On the whole the evidence warrants us in assuming that a portion of the weapons and accoutrements peculiar to a forester were hung up in the church, that the said forester (both from the bow and grave) was of exceptional stature, that both weapons and grave were popularly assigned to Little John more than 200 years ago, and that the said weapons must have belonged to a man of extraordinary fame, or they would not have found such a resting place. This being the case, the opponents of the accuracy of the tradition seem to us to have far more difficulties with which to contend, than those who accept it’. That is the story. Make of it what you will, but the legend will persist as long as Hathersage remains, and why not? – Legend has always played its part in English History. Much concerning our Patron Saint, St. George is legendary, inspiring men to deeds of valiant patriotism down to the present day, carried through a line of distinguished warriors who cried – ‘England and St. George!’ Those who try to slay a healthy legend are taking the romance from our English heritage, so with all due respect to the higher critics let us cling to the Hathersage hero and henchman of Robin Hood. What more fitting resting place for a gallant outlaw than to lie beneath the yew trees in a grave tended by the Ancient Order of Foresters. Sleep on, Little John – Hathersage will keep faith with thee!’
Under the heading ‘Local Places named after Little John’ Hulbert continues: ‘It is not as if the grave of Little John, the size of the thigh bone, the bow, the armour and foresters cap are the only associations with Little John and Robin Hood in Hathersage and district. The ‘Hood Brook’ runs past Hathersage Cricket pitch and through the village. Not far away on the Longshaw estate is ‘Little John’s well’ (SK267794). On the other side of the valley on the waste of Abney moor is ‘Robin Hood’s Cross’ (SK 182803) and on Offerton Moor ‘Robin Hood’s Stoop’ (SK 217806) just behind Callow Farm. There is also ‘Robin Hood’s Croft’, an old sheep shelter and field between Ashopton viaduct and Lead Hill (SK197867) and ‘Robin Hood’s Moss’ overlooking Derwent Dams (SK190930). All of these are within 5 miles of Hathersage which included Bamford and Derwent. However, the most interesting is Robin Hood’s Cave on Stanage Edge, overlooking Hathersage (SK245835). The cave will only be found by those who know exactly where to look. Hikers can pass within a few feet above and below it in hundreds every summer weekend and never know of its existance. The series of interconnecting caves and passages is very well concealed. They can be reached from the top and come out half way down the face of the cliff giving panoramic views for miles to the south and west. Pools of water can always be found nearby so that anyone in hiding could survive for long periods, and the formation of the caves means they could easily be defended by one man against a large number of attackers. In just such a place an outlaw might hide for months undetected , if the need arose.’
Under the heading ‘St Michael & All Angels Hathersage’, Hulbert continues with some detailed information about the church and its surroundings. Under the heading ‘A Look round the Church (The Porch)’ Hulbert states: ‘In the parish is an ancient sepulchre slab, probably 13th century, is in the porch which some believe was Little John’s original tombstone. Engraved upon it is a cross (shaped rather like a fleur-de-lys – a design used in our processional cross) there are also two shields and the letters ‘LI’ thought to be of a later date. It was found under the flooring of the church where the pulpit stood.’ This stone is also mentioned in nos. 10 and 14 above. See, Let These Stones Live, Martin F. H. Hulbert, Published for the 7th Centenary of the Christian Church in Hathersage and 6th Centenary of the present Church Building., 1982?, pp. 1- 20.
Conclusions
Some sources indicate that Little John’s grave was excavated in 1784 by Captain James Shuttleworth, where at a depth of six feet, only a large human thigh bone was (allegedly) discovered, although one source says that other bones were found at an earlier dig. There is a discrepancy in the different accounts of its size. The thigh bone was apparently measured on William Bohem’s tailoring board in Little John’s cottage, and found to be thirty two inches in length. However the old woodman Hinchliffe, the gravedigger’s son, gives the length as twenty eight and a half inches to twenty nine and a half inches. According to James Pilkington (1789) it was twenty nine and a half inches in length; Ebenezer Rhodes (1824) says it was two feet five inches; Spencer T. Hall (1853), quoting Jenny Sherd, says it was thirty-two inches; William Bemrose Junior (1868-69) says it was thirty two inches; Anna Maria Wilhelmina Stirling (1911), also quoting Jenny Sherd says thirty two inches; J. W. Walker (1944) says it was twenty eight and a half inches; Percy Valentine Harris (1951) says twenty nine and a half inches; J. W. Walker (1952) again says twenty eight and a half inches; and Martin F. H. Hulbert (1982?) says thirty two inches.
It would be virtually impossible for a human femur to be thirty two inches in length. According to Guinness World Records Limited 2023: ‘The thigh bone, or femur, is the longest. It constitutes 27.5% of a person’s stature normally, and may be expected to be 50 cm (19.75 in) long in a man measuring 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) tall. The longest recorded bone was a femur measuring 76 cm (2 ft 6 in), which belonged to Constantine, a German giant.’
Twentieth century authors such as J. W. Walker and Martin F. H. Hulbert, were undoubtedly influenced by A. M. W. Stirling’s Annals of a Yorkshire House, itself a questionable source. We are left with a plethora of information that will remain as just a tradition.