Post by Vampirologist on Feb 4, 2004 8:01:08 GMT -5
The case of what has become known as the Kirklees Vampire has no real parallels with the Highgate Vampire investigation save for occult symbols being discovered in the vicinity plus the blood-drained carcasses of animals. But any comparison ends at that point.
Enter Robin Hood, or, at least, the legend of the English outlaw ...
The story of Robin Hood being bled to death by his cousin, the prioress of Kirklees, is recorded in a Sloane manuscript. He is said to have died without the sanctity of holy unction and his body was supposedly interred 650 yards from the Kirklees priory gatehouse. Whether he is actually entombed in the Kirklees grave bearing a much later tombstone is a matter open to much speculation. The inscription reads: “Here underneath dis laitl stean Laz Robert earl of Huntingtun … etc.”
Sir Samuel Armytage fell and died when his horse was terrified by something as he rode past the tomb. Prior to this he had, together with Robert Barr, attempted an exhumation of the grave. However, they had dug only a yard deep when they quit. Despite being the worse for drink, something had so disturbed them that they ran off into the night.
Land of Lost Content, the Luddite Revolt (published in 1812) records: “The Armytage family lived over the brow of the hill on a splendid site once occupied by Benedictine (Cistercian) nuns. It was called Kirklees. There was a mystery about it which local people only reluctantly tried to penetrate. The mystery was helped physically by the thick shroud of trees that surrounded the place, and was sustained by local tales of ghosts of prioresses and nuns and of the death of Robin Hood whose grave is so imperturbably marked as lying within Kirklees grounds in spite of any facts which might suggest to the contrary.”
There is a Yorkshire claim that the legendary outlaw Robin Hood is based on a certain Robert of Wakefield whose wife was named Matilda. Hence Robert and Matilda become “Robin and Marion.” There is a problem with this theory owing to the fact that scholars are agreed that written references about the outlaw Robin Hood significantly predate when Robert and Matilda were born. Also, scholars do not believe the “Maid Marion” aspect to have any validity. There is no evidence that she existed. Robin Hood himself could have been any one of innumerable scoundrels and cut-throats of a period covering more than a century, and it might well have been a collective name. But the important point is that references to this person or persons certainly existed before the time when Robert Hode of Wakefield himself came into existence; so it cannot be him.
There is more than one grave claimed by local enthusiasts to be the tomb of Robin Hood in West Yorkshire, but none seem to be anything more than a much later adaptation. The Kirklees grave with its erroneous Victorian inscription is probably not the tomb of Robin Hood. However, the fact that Robert of Wakefield was not Robin Hood does not necessarily rule out any possibility of this being the outlaw's tomb. The two matters are not mutually exclusive. And the tomb itself is only one of a number of graves, mostly unmarked, in that immediate vicinity.
An application was made by the Vampire Research Society at the end of November 1988 to Lady Margarete Armytage, owner of Kirklees Hall Estate in West Yorkshire, to visit the burial site alleged to be that of Robin Hood on unconsecrated ground. A request to hold a nocturnal vigil near the grave in question was also made along with sundry queries. Back in 1988, amid a lot of growing press speculation about sinister presences and vampires, this intitial request was perhaps understandably turned down.
Lady Armytage now permits visits to the afflicted area by appointment. Bishop Manchester has offered to bless the grave(s) in question and, should it be found necessary, exorcise the unquiet presence. Further comment on this matter is not available.
Link: www.gothicpress.freeserve.co.uk/The%20Kirklees%20Vampire.htm
Enter Robin Hood, or, at least, the legend of the English outlaw ...
The story of Robin Hood being bled to death by his cousin, the prioress of Kirklees, is recorded in a Sloane manuscript. He is said to have died without the sanctity of holy unction and his body was supposedly interred 650 yards from the Kirklees priory gatehouse. Whether he is actually entombed in the Kirklees grave bearing a much later tombstone is a matter open to much speculation. The inscription reads: “Here underneath dis laitl stean Laz Robert earl of Huntingtun … etc.”
Sir Samuel Armytage fell and died when his horse was terrified by something as he rode past the tomb. Prior to this he had, together with Robert Barr, attempted an exhumation of the grave. However, they had dug only a yard deep when they quit. Despite being the worse for drink, something had so disturbed them that they ran off into the night.
Land of Lost Content, the Luddite Revolt (published in 1812) records: “The Armytage family lived over the brow of the hill on a splendid site once occupied by Benedictine (Cistercian) nuns. It was called Kirklees. There was a mystery about it which local people only reluctantly tried to penetrate. The mystery was helped physically by the thick shroud of trees that surrounded the place, and was sustained by local tales of ghosts of prioresses and nuns and of the death of Robin Hood whose grave is so imperturbably marked as lying within Kirklees grounds in spite of any facts which might suggest to the contrary.”
There is a Yorkshire claim that the legendary outlaw Robin Hood is based on a certain Robert of Wakefield whose wife was named Matilda. Hence Robert and Matilda become “Robin and Marion.” There is a problem with this theory owing to the fact that scholars are agreed that written references about the outlaw Robin Hood significantly predate when Robert and Matilda were born. Also, scholars do not believe the “Maid Marion” aspect to have any validity. There is no evidence that she existed. Robin Hood himself could have been any one of innumerable scoundrels and cut-throats of a period covering more than a century, and it might well have been a collective name. But the important point is that references to this person or persons certainly existed before the time when Robert Hode of Wakefield himself came into existence; so it cannot be him.
There is more than one grave claimed by local enthusiasts to be the tomb of Robin Hood in West Yorkshire, but none seem to be anything more than a much later adaptation. The Kirklees grave with its erroneous Victorian inscription is probably not the tomb of Robin Hood. However, the fact that Robert of Wakefield was not Robin Hood does not necessarily rule out any possibility of this being the outlaw's tomb. The two matters are not mutually exclusive. And the tomb itself is only one of a number of graves, mostly unmarked, in that immediate vicinity.
An application was made by the Vampire Research Society at the end of November 1988 to Lady Margarete Armytage, owner of Kirklees Hall Estate in West Yorkshire, to visit the burial site alleged to be that of Robin Hood on unconsecrated ground. A request to hold a nocturnal vigil near the grave in question was also made along with sundry queries. Back in 1988, amid a lot of growing press speculation about sinister presences and vampires, this intitial request was perhaps understandably turned down.
Lady Armytage now permits visits to the afflicted area by appointment. Bishop Manchester has offered to bless the grave(s) in question and, should it be found necessary, exorcise the unquiet presence. Further comment on this matter is not available.
Link: www.gothicpress.freeserve.co.uk/The%20Kirklees%20Vampire.htm
