Yorkshire's claim to Robin Hood is raised in parliament

Nottinghamshire frequently goes into a tug-of-war battle with the County of Yorkshire to defend its globally known traditional links with the Robin Hood legend but, in 2004, the issue reached a new level when Yorkshire MP David Hinchcliffe introduced a non-binding motion in the House of Commons calling for the House to recognise Yorkshire’s claim to the legend.

The motion received the initial support of 28 other parliamentarians and to rectify what they maintained was an historical inaccuracy, they were advocating the removal of all the existing Nottinghamshire road signs proclaiming motorists were entering “Robin Hood Country” . Further insult was also added to Nottinghamshire’s injury when a new airport near Doncaster in South Yorkshire was named Robin Hood!

Now the media all recognise that the whole world loves a Robin Hood story and so it didn’t take long for this one to go global and hit the international headlines. It was picked up by the prestigious New York Times, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune and The Age in Australia. The story also appeared extensively in the European press and back in the UK there was a large colour picture of the Robin Hood Statue on the front page of The Guardian and Yorkshire’s claims were even discussed on the Richard and Judy TV Show.

Nottinghamshire MP for Bassetlaw, John Mann, dismissed Yorkshire’s claims as a “historically inaccurate myth” and the long-standing references to Nottingham Castle and the Sheriff of Nottingham in the traditional, legendary tales, once again blew the Yorkshire theory to pieces!

The outcome of all the media attention also showed that even if Yorkshire’s claims were ever proved to be true, over the centuries, fiction has triumphed over fact in the case of Robin Hood, and the general public made it quite clear that they did not want their much-loved legend tampered with!