Plumpton Park (Ryhill)

From International Robin Hood Bibliography
Locality
Coordinate 53.629871, -1.404334
Adm. div. West Riding of Yorkshire
Vicinity c. 900 m NE of Ryhill and c. 400 m N of Havercroft
Type Area
Interest Literary locale
Status Defunct
First Record c. 1500
Loading map...
Plumpton Park, a field name in the vicinity of Ryhill.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-08-07. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2022-05-17.

In the Gest, King Edward is exasperated at noticing the scarcity of deer in Plumpton Park after Robin and his men have been poaching there during their stay with the knight. We should almost certainly take this to be in Lancashire, but it could just possibly be some place King Edward is meant to have visited after his progress in Lancashire. According to A. H. Smith,[1] Plumpton Park is listed in an 1843 MS Tithe Award as a field name near the village of Ryhill, which latter is located c. 10.5 km WSW of Wentbridge and Barnsdale.

With the aid of the MS tithe award,[2] a georeferenced 6" O.S. map of the area online at NLS,[3] and Google Maps, it is possible to establish the coordinates of this locality fairly accurately. It is shown on 19th century 6" O.S. maps of Ryhill as a rectangular enclosed area at the corner of a large field, just north of the then existing Common Ing Lane. The site is located c. 900 m NE of Ryhill and c. 400 m N of Havercroft, and c. 400 M WNW of Horncastle Farm, which latter still exists and may thus serve as a point of reference for locating the site of Plumpton Park on modern maps. The 1843 tithe award lists the land as arable, the occupier as Richard Cuttle and the owner as the Crown.

Quotations

[Gest; c. 1500:]
All the passe of Lancasshyre
He went both ferre and nere
Tyll he came to Plomton Parke
He faylyd many of his dere.[4]

Gazetteers

MS sources

  • 1843 tithe award for Ryhill parish, online at the Genealogist, Piece 43, sub-piece 341, Image 060 (£)
  • accompanying map, online at the Genealogist, Piece 43, sub-piece 341, Sub-Image 001 (£).

Printed sources

Maps

Also see


Notes

  1. Smith, A.H. The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire (English Place-Name Society, vols. XXX-XXXVII) (Cambridge, 1961-63), pt. 1, p. 262.
  2. See scan of 1843 tithe award for Ryhill parish and accompanying map, online at the Genealogist (£).
  3. 6" O.S. map Yorkshire CCLXIII.NW (1907; rev. 1904), georeferenced version.
  4. Gest, st. 357.