By 1348 Margaret de Savile* was known to be the acting Prioress and Ralph Thoresby³ records that she was the prioress here at Kirklees in 1350 and 1359. These years partly encompass the Elland Feud culminating in Sir John Eland's murder at Lane Head, Brookfoot in 1353 while riding to a tourn at Brighouse. Although the Saville and Eland genealogies are poorly understood, it appears that Margaret de Savile was the sister of John de Savile [d. 1353] who married Isabel de Eland. Sir John Eland also Warenne's steward and lord of the manor of Brighouse and High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1341 was the brother-in-law to Sir John de Savile through his sister Isobel de Eland.*Margaret Savila, sister of Sir John de Savile of Thornhill [d. 1405] who married Isabel de Eland, the grand-daughter of  Sir John  de Eland the rapacious High Steward of  the Wakefield manor and High Sheriff of Yorkshire murdered by assailants in 1353 with his son John who were embroiled in what came to be known as the 'Elland Feud'.

The demise of Robyn Hode in the Geste appears to be intertwined with the murderous dispossessions of the Elland Feud  which to a number of commentators, appears to be partly fiction and partly fact, much like the Geste.
Certainly if Margaret de Savile was the prioress in waiting in 1347, she may well have had a hand in the death of the outlaw through her influence upon the prioress of Kirklees and through her kith, one time Sheriff and all-round dastardly person, Sir John de Eland. The hunt for the prioress might start with  Margaret de Savile, whether in fiction or in reality.  J.W. Walker noted Alice de Scriven was a prioress of Kirklees from 1307  until 1328, after which year Walker states that  there is no record of any  prioress until 1359 when Margaret de Savile  is mentioned. The tenure of Elizabeth de Stainton appears very tenuous. Dodsworth and Dugdale's Monasticon merely state that  Elizabeth de Staynton was prioress in the '13th century'. The chances are that Margaret de Savile was the superior in 1347 but her inclusion if she were the model for the prioress in the Geste appears to be more symbolic than actual..

Elizabeth's de Staynton's remains lie in what is called the "Nun's Grave" which supposedly includes others [two sisters¹³], which was discovered in 1706¹. Camden's first edition of Brtiannia in 1607 did not have an illustration of the grave slab for an obvious reason but the 1789 revised edition showed a flat stone with a raised buttony cross.
The inscription on the grave was in Norman-French probably in a 1300's style :

This is translated as: "Sweet Jesus of Nazareth, son of God have mercy on Elizabeth Stainton, prioress of this house"
The priory or "Nunnery" had a priory church, recorded by Hunter. About 18 yards from the east end of this priory, Hunter recorded Elizabeth de Staynton's gravestone constructed in the form of a Lombardic cross probably dating from the 1300's. This Lombardic cross called a bottony cross or perhaps a crosslet in heraldry may be the same incorporated into the Armytage Arms and is still found in their Arms today¹².
This grave site was bricked and railed in the 1800's by George Armytage in the same style as that of the "Robin Hood" grave on the nearby ridge. Elizabeth's grave now resides in Lady Armytage's back garden⁶.
It is important to notice that there is no death or burial date given on the gravestone and thus this has led to much debate and "listing" to either confirm or deny that Elizabeth de Staynton was the "murderess" or  the "careless nurse"of the "Geste".

Hunter attempted to show as described in the "Geste" that Robin Hood and a prioress were related. Hunter concluded that this Elizabeth de Stainton, was the relative of Robin Hood who bled him.

Some have suggested that the form of the cross [Lombardic] on Elizabeth's grave as found on a similar one to that  supposedly of Robin Hood's at Loxley [Warwickshire, not South Yorkshire] is that of the Knights Templar. These knights were hounded by king Phillip of France, a proclaimation was issued by the Pope and Edward the II in 1308 was reluctantly complied with his father-in-law to strip these knights of their properties, which were granted to various lords and later to the Knights Hospitallers.

                                            Sir William Dugdale⁹ provided a list of Prioresses as follows:

 In the Tolson Museum in Hudddersfield¹⁰ a list of prioresses was published which combined with Dugdale's   gave:
 

   A further incomplete list gives:

If anything, the lists are inconclusive as far as Hunter's death date of 1347 goes. From three of the lists it might be concluded that Hunter could have assumed that the prioress, who is reputed to have bled Robin Hood in the "Geste" was the first prioress of Kirklees but from the lists Mary Startin looks a better choice, she apparently died in 1348 from the "Great Pestilence"¹⁶  However we could consider that Margaret de Savile was the acting prioress in 1347.
From the "Geste" it would appear that Robin Hood and the Prioress, whoever she was, were related. In Munday's Downfall of Robert Earle of Huntington and the Death of Robert Earle of Huntington, Gilbert de Hood is described as being Robert Earle of Huntington's uncle and held the position of Prior of York. If it could be shown that there was a prior of York by the name of de Hood then it might raise questions about the role of the church in Robert of Huntington's death.
The titled nobility had strong links with the church hierarchy, for their own families were often in positions of ecclesiastical power and influence.

According to the "Geste", Robyn Hode repaired to a nunnery, Kyrkly, from where it was claimed he shot his arrow from one of the two rooms in the upper part of the priory Gate House. The point at which the arrow landed marked the site of his final chosen resting place. The prioress is supposed to have hastened his demise by blood letting .

Robin Hood is calculated by Hunter & Baines to have died in 1347 at the age of 77, based upon the gravestone at Kirklees, the year Elizabeth de Staynton may have been removed from office [others say he died aged 57.]  We might note that this would make Robyn's birth about 1270 . There is absolutely no evidence that the Robert Hood of the Wakefield Court Rolls was the same person as that supposedly buried at Kirklees or the he "Contrariant" of Hunter. Hunter calculated his death date for Robyn from the time since a Robyn left Edward II's service. Is it partial coincidence or a transcription error that the "gravestone of Robin Hood" was inscribed with the date 1247 not 1347, very probably by an over zealous Armytage? Did the prioress die of natural causes?  Was she removed from office by the Bishop of York or did she commit suicide?². Perhaps like a third of the population in the mid 1300's, this person died of the 'pestilence', the Black Death.

There is also a reference to a John de Stainton who married Joan [?Notton], their child being Joan de Stainton. This Joan married John de Dronsfield. This Joan de Stainton may have been Elizabeth de Stainton's sister. John and Joan had three children, Agnes, who married John Wentworth of North Elmshall, Isabel who married John Bosvile of  New Hall, Ardsley and [Sir] William Dronsfield. On William's death [dsp] it is interesting to note that his estates were divided between the Bosviles [of Ardsley] and the Wentworths [of North Elmshall], i.e. his sister's families for in a document from Woolley Hall we have a reference to Elizabeth de Staynton's admission from the priors of Bretton Priory to Kirklees Priory [J.W. Walker].
This was the beginning of a long line of Wentworths' at Woolley Hall.

A Matilda Hood [nee de Toothill?] perhaps Elizabeth's step sister, perhaps daughter of Hugh de Toothill in the Wakefield Manor Rolls in 1314 was fined for collecting firewood for the manor estate. This Matilda  may have  married Robertus Hood of Wakefield. However much of this appears to be circumstantial and assumed, Walker could have been drawing a long bow. There is no proved nexus between Matila Hood and Matilda Toothill. For this reason  some doubt has been cast upon the reliability of Walker's findings by later researchers.

Elizabeth's lover was described in the "Geste" as Sir Roger of Doncastre. This would have brought her under the scrutiny of the  Church hierarchy, but such "licentiousness" was often tolerated. At another de Warenne estate priory [at Castle Acre in Norfolk] established in 1090 by William 2nd Earl Warrrene  for Cluniac monks, there were also reports of a series of scandals in the 1300's which suggested laxity on the part of the incumbents.

Actual text from Leodensis

Hear undernead dis laitl stean                            Laiz robert earl of Huntingtun                            Nea arcir ver az hie sa geud                            An pipl kauld im robin heud                            Sick utlawz as hi an iz men                            Vil england nivr si agen                            Obiit 24 kal Dekembris 1247

The style of the lettering and the abyssmal phonetic spelling has cast doubt on the date of the inscription. The fact Gale vitrually hid the piece of paper upon which this record appears indicates that he himself did not put much store by it. Excavations failed to reveal any signs of interment. There is circumstantial evidence that the Armitage family, probably Sir John the Yorkshire sheriff,  had the inscription made.
In 1856 the diary of a John Swallow records somewhat differently¹⁹:
"Went to Dewsbury - from thence to Thornhill Lees and dined. Took to Cooper Bridge and walked to Kirklees Hall. Obtained permission to see Robin Hood's grave which is enclosed within pallisades. The inscription placed
perpendicularly, is as follows-
                                                      'Under this stone lies Robin Hood
                                                       His death was caused by letting Blood.
                                                       His friend, little John, has also gone
                                                       To stand his trial and await his doom'

The ballads never claimed Robyn was the earl of Huntington. This tag did not appear widely until 1598 in Anthony Munday's The Downfall of Robert, Earl of Huntington. Thus the inscription would appear to be post 1600, the year 1247 probably taken from John Major's work¹¹. This date does not agree with that of Joseph Hunter's of 1347, exactly one hundred years later.
See Huntington

The Priory History ⁴ We know that the priory was founded in 1155 by the son of a William Flandrensis [Fleming] lord of Clifton,* one Regnerle  Fleming [Reyner or Reginald le Fleming], lord of the manor of Clifton¹², in the first or second  year of Henry II. The land grant was not dated but it was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and St. James. Here were all orders of the Benedictine nuns including a strict form of rule called Cistercian, after its foundation at Citeaux in 1098. The priory's foundation was confirmed by William earl of Surrey & Warenne in1236 which was supported by a donation from Regnerle.^{4  *} He held Clifton and the vill of Dalton nr. Kirkheaton of earl de Warenne and  land in Wath-upon-Dearne as part of the honour of Skipton.²²

Reyner le Fleming held Hartshead and Hartshead Hall which lay a little to the east of the original Kirklees Hall. This estate passed to the Radcliffe family while the manor of Clifton was retained by the Flemings.* In 1200 William de Radcliffe  of Radcliffe Tower Lancashire granted all of Hartshead to his son Hugh  for one pound of pepper. The estate passed from Hugh to his brother Adam who gave the town of Harshead to his son Robert for which he rendered a pair of white gloves yearly.  Richard de  Radcliffe held Hartshead in 1316.²² The Radcliffes then sold in 1317 to John Fleming and it was then likewise sold to the Stansfield family, the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem and finally into the Armitage family of Kirklees^{.21 * Reynald le Flemyng who was of full age in 1307 is recorded as the son and heir of William le Flemyng who was deceased. Reynald gave fealty for Clifton to John de Warenne  8th earl of Surrey &c. [W.C.R. 1297-1309, p. 106.]}

The Priory Buildings
The Priory buildings consisted of a Gate House [still extant], church, cloister, refectory and a dormitory. The present stone farm buildings may be from these times. The foundations of the main buildings were revealed under the guidance of Sir George Armytage in 1902. He concluded in 1908 that the priory buildings or parts of them had been used as a residence and the stonework was then removed to build Kirklees Hall about 1610 which by 1983 had been relinquished and converted into luxury units.
There was a priory garden [a garden wall is still evident] and the surrounding fields were tended for both crops and cattle [the latter evidenced by disputes with neighbours]. No doubt there would be a  dovecote, orchard and cattle for milk. The Gate House was separate from the ecclesiastic buildings and would be used for non-church visitors. There is dispute as to whether the Gate House here is part f the old priory, certainly the upper structure looks later although this could be built upon earlier foundations.

Roger Dodsworth a historian from the 1600's states that Robyn came to "Clifton on Calder" and suggests he may have made the aquaintance of "Little John", such hearsay was most likely gleaned from the local folk tales of the public house variety.
That a person by the name of Robin Hood did die and was buried here, Baines is convinced [providing no evidence] but he correctly contested the notion that the inscription and date on the grave cover of 1247 were at all genuine⁴.

7. There is a tangible if tenuous link between the Shire-Reeve's agenda and Margaret de Savile, the "prioress in waiting".

The difficulty that arises is in resolving the conflicts presented between the narrative of the Geste and  possible historical links and other traces of the legend. Further archaeological excavations and historical references may be required to determine more than the above bare statements.

Footnote:
Further research supports the concept that the Kirklees gravestone is a hoax perpetuated from a single conflation of the ballad name 'Kyrkely' and real place-name, Kirklees. Later imitative ballads and folktales added to this single error and compounded it until this original speculation has become considered to be 'fact'.

  Sources:
  1. Hunter, Joseph., The Ballad Hero : Robin Hood, London, 1852.
  2. Robin Hood's Garland, printed by C. Dicey, early 1700's.
  3. Thoresby, Ralph., Ducatus Leodiensis,  1715
  4. Baines, Thomas, Yorkshire History, Past and Present. download pdf
  5.Phillips G. and Keatman M., Robin Hood, The Man Behind the Myth, O'Mara, 1995.
  6. Email communication with Barbara Green, 2001.
  7. Walker, J.W., A copy of a reference to a deed found at Woolley Hall, in the possession of
       Lt.-Cdr. Wentworth [kindly provided by Barbara Green, President of the Yorkshire Robin
       Hood  Society]
  8.Macdonald, Micheil., The Clans of Scotland, Brian Trodd Ltd., 1991.
  9. Dugdale, William, Sir.,  Dodsworth, Roger., Monasticon Anglicanum, 3 vols folio, London
      1655.
10. From a letter to local newspaper by E.R. Short of Brighouse.
11. Major [Mair], John., History of Greater Britain, 1521.
12. Green, Barbara., Secrets of The Grave, Palmyra Press, 2001.[Sketch by  R. Naus]
13. Letter from Leslie Morgan of Wisbey to local newspaper 28th October 1960 kindly supplied
      by Barbara Green.
14  Hopkirk, Huddersfield: Its History and Natural History.
15. Sloane Manuscript about 1600.
16. From Eileen Powers book Medieval Nunneries according to Barbara Green, email
      communication.
17. Powers, Eileen, Medieval Nunneries [after Thompson, Hamilton, The Pestilence of the
      Fourteenth Century of the Diocese of York [Barbara Green, email communication]
18. Dugdale, William. Monasticon online
19. The Diary of John Swallow, by Sally Walker.                                                                                                                                                           

20. Munday, Anthony. The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington online                                                                                                                  21. Horsfall, Joseph. The History of Brighouse, Rastrick and Hipperholme, 1893, p. 201. [pdf: 26.9 mb]

22. Nomina Villarum, p. 362.

Another useful reference if you can find it:

Chadwick, Mirfield Parish Magazine, Jan-Aug. 1884

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Copyright © Tim Midgley 2000, revised 26th March 2018.