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Swarth Howe

Barrow / Cairn Cemetery

Folklore

Robin Hood, or Robert Earl of Huntingdon, of whose exploits, at the head of his merry outlaws, all the world has heard, died in 1274. He is said to have been the founder of "Robin Hood's Bay," near Whitby. One day, standing on the top of Swarthoue, the highest tumulus in our vicinity, he resolved to build a town where his arrow should alight, which he then shot towards the coast where the maritime place above named, with its 1200 inhabitants, is now situated, although the distance direct across the country from Swarthoue is at least six miles!
p114 in 'A glossary of Yorkshire words and phrases collected in Whitby and the Neighbourhood. By An Inhabitant. 1855. You can read this on Google Books.
The Inhabitant also mentions some stones of indeterminate age connected with Robin Hood, but maybe they're gone now?
Robin Hood's Pillars - two rude stones, between three and four feet high, a mile to the south of Whitby Abbey, which tradition asserts as marking the places where the arrows of Robin Hood and his mate Little John fell, on a trial of archery from the top of the abbey, after they had dined with the abbot. They are in separate fields, which are still called Robin Hood and Little John's closes; but John outshot his master by a distance of one hundred feet, according to the position of the pillar assigned as his.
Little John outdoes Robin Hood? Good work there.
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
21st March 2007ce
Edited 21st March 2007ce

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