If you read the best historical work on the outlaw, by J. It almost certainly isn’t, but it is a very dramatic setting. You follow this track through some splendid heather moorland, keeping in the hollow and ignoring cross tracks until you reach the pile of stones that is Robin Hood’s Grave. Thankfully, this area of moorland, with some outstanding limestone pavements, has now been put into a National Park – not before time.Īt this point the old track becomes more defined, wider and you can see the wheel ruts of carts, which perhaps carried the refined lime down to Crosby. The Pillory in Orton (c) John Bainbridge 2019Īfter a long ascent we reached an old lime-kiln and then the edge of Orton Scar. Unfortunate poor, would have been subjected to punishment and humiliation, and the even older parish church, taking the footpath that eventually leads to Crosby Ravensworth, crossing a number of old stiles in stone-walled fields. We left Orton early, passing the ancient pillory, where wrongdoers, or perhaps just the It’s a grand place for a country walk of several miles, with good clear views of the Lakeland mountains and the Pennines. Robin Hood’s Grave (c) John Bainbridge 2019 So impressed was I with the area around this supposed grave, that I started my novel Villain up on these wild northern fells. It’s of particular interest to me because I have a great interest in the Robin Hood legends and have written four historical novels about his adventures. Since we first discovered the area, we often walk up from the village of Orton, in Westmorland, to visit Robin Hood’s Grave.

Robin hood by jc holt