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Robin Hoods Bower, Wessex placename questions

Submitted by PéturH on Sunday, 05 January 2003  Page Views: 24968

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I have been trying for over a year now to get somebody to point me in the right direction, to point me to somebody who might know the answers to any of these questions:

-What is (stone ring?), and why the name "Robin Hoods Bower" in Southleigh Woods 25 km north-west of Salisbury, Somerset, England ?

-What is the significance in ancient times of a place called "Heavens Gate" ca. 4 km due-west from there?

-And finaly, what is the significance in ancient times of "The Bushes" ca. 4 km due west of Heavens Gate ?

It is really impossible to get somebody in this field of interest in England, to answer my plea for assistance. I thought this -homepage had to be the right one.

Thank you very much.

Yours sincerely
Pétur Halldórsson.

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"Robin Hoods Bower, Wessex placename questions" | Login/Create an Account | 9 News and Comments
  
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Re: Robin Hoods Bower, Wessex placename questions by Anonymous on Sunday, 09 July 2006
Hello
all you Somerset chummies

check this out:

http://www.centre.is

-click ENGLISH and click on the books...

Pétur H.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Robin Hoods Bower, Wessex placename questions by Anonymous on Wednesday, 05 April 2006
Just for the record Southleigh Wood is in Wiltshire and not Somerset. If anyone would like photos of 'Iley Oak/Robin Hoods bower please email at [email protected] have many of my own photos of this and other Wessex sites. I live in Warminster.
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Re: Robin Hoods Bower, Wessex placename questions by Anonymous on Monday, 07 March 2005
Adenda: Robin Hoods Bower obviously wasn't called that in King Alfred's day... it was known as 'Iley Oak' (hence the tree stump in the middle of that earthwork is very probably that oak tree).
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Re: Robin Hoods Bower, Wessex placename questions by Anonymous on Monday, 07 March 2005
Robin Hoods Bower is indeed an odd place. Not much to see but the atmosphere is quite unnerving. Dark, dense monkey puzzle trees obscure much of the light, even on the brightest day. It is known for being the place where King Alfred the Great camped/met with his troops in 878 on the eve of the momentous Battle of Edington where he defeated Gudrun and his Danes, chasing them all the way back to Chippenham. I'd guess the large oak tree may have been a good and well-known meeting place (as was Egbert's Stone where he met the bulk of his troops, about 20km away). I'd also guess the diamond-shaped earthwork surrounding the large stump was a later addition to mark or commemorate the spot where the great King encamped.

I don't think Heaven's Gate has any connection to the Bower... I think it is so named because it's a very steep climb to get up there! And when you are up there, you feel as though you are at quite some altitude, with a steep drop in front of you. It is simply a small clearing on the Wiltshire/Somerset border with a fantastic view which overlooks Longleat House and surrounding countryside as far as the Mendip Hills.
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Re: Robin Hoods Bower, Wessex placename questions by Anonymous on Sunday, 21 November 2004
I do not know why the name robin hood but the location earns the bower part of the name.
There appear to be a diamond shaped ditch and raised area of ground. The area is of much more stoney soil and rasied about 18inches higher than the surrounding woodland.
All the trees within this 'bower' are tightly packed monkey puzzle trees which is in total contrast to the surrounding woodland. This creates a very dark shady area which very light sunlight penetrates. In the centre of the bower is the stump of a massive tree which I presume was an oak or large redwood.

Strange place.
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Re: Robin Hoods Bower, Wessex placename questions by Anonymous on Tuesday, 04 May 2004
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Re: Robin Hoods Bower, Wessex placename questions by Anonymous on Friday, 17 January 2003
Try these sites.
http://www.englishheathenism.homestead.com/heathennames.html

http://viking.no/e/england/e-pl-england.htm

http://www.indigogroup.co.uk/edge/Religpns.htm

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/civreg/places/

http://www.abcounties.co.uk/newgaz/section3.htm

http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/WILTSHIRE-EMI/2002-10/1035666359

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/research/EPNS/covols.htm

http://www.bigfamily.co.uk/new/bookdetails.cfm?bcode

Amanda
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Re: Robin Hoods Bower, Wessex placename questions by Anonymous on Thursday, 09 January 2003
dear Petur:
The idea of a gate to Heaven or Paradise has been a popular idea or wishful notion for a long time. Even the Pope performs an annual ceremony called "opening the door" to heaven. The door ceremony traces to similar images in earlier Babilonia. The "Gates to Paradise" are illustrated in the Egyptian Book of the Dead (from papyrus manuscripts). These were the gates to Duat, the Land of the Dead in the West, on the other side of the Ocean, where SunGod Ra went at the end of every day in his boat. We believe these ideas were the prehistoric archetype for the five "gates" of the sarcen stones of English Stonehenge. These gates of Stonehenge were designed to celebrate, commemorate and record (as mneumonic devices) the new discoveries of routes in the Ocean to the West that were discovered c.2500 BC.
(see www.geocities.com/how the sungod/)
Regards,
Torgy
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Robin Hoods Bower, Wessex placename questions by Anonymous on Wednesday, 08 January 2003
Sorry, Pétur, don't know the answer to your question, although Somerset is not a part of England normally associated with Robin Hood (traditionally Nottinghamshire but more realistically Yorkshire). Maybe a Somerset-based reader can help more. Cheers, Col
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