Robin Hood and Little John Those famous medieval outlaws, Robin Hood and Little John, appear frequently in Peakland lore. By tradition their favourite refuges were Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire and Barnsdale Forest near Doncaster. The Peak lies roughly between the two. We even have a hamlet called Robin Hood, near Baslow. According to legend, Little John was born in a cottage close to Hathersage church. Here he returned to die and was buried in the churchyard. An old lady who lived in Little John’s cottage used to tell people that she could remember when Little John’s grave was opened. It revealed the remains of a man eight feet (2.4 m) tall. Sadly the boring truth behind this exciting legend is that the grave is probably not a grave at all but an official measurement of length. The antiquarian Ashmole wrote of seeing Little John’s cap and longbow in the church around 1625. They were removed during restoration work about 200 years later. At this time, part of a stone slab was found beneath the church floor; it was inscribed simply ‘L.J.’ Several features around the Peak are named after Robin Hood. They include a rock near Ashover, a stone post on Offerton Moor, a cave on Stanage Edge, a well near Longshaw Lodge and the site of a stone cross near Bradwell. Howden moorland has a Robin Hood’s spring, croft and moss. South-east of Glossop are the mysterious Robin Hood’s Picking Rods. This is a pair of gritstone pillars which some say were used for bending bows while they were being strung. A very tall story, about Robin Hood’s Stride, near Elton, tells us this is where the outlaw took a single stride from one huge pillar to another 70 ft (20 m) away. Want to know more? In Search of Robin Hood and Little John, Julie Bunting. Peak Advertiser 22 February 1991 Discovering Derbyshire’s White Peak, Tom Bates. ALD Design & Print 2000 ISBN 1-901587-11-8 The Land of the Etherow, Neville T. Sharpe. Churnet Valley Books 2000 ISBN 1-897949-68-5 Click here to search the books database More Pictures Romance & Legend