Hero
Robin Hood's Arrow
He aimed at the weathercock. The roof got in the way.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- Large Perpendicular church with tall tower
- Legend from
- Folk tale, recorded 1880s
- Tone
- Light-hearted
Robin Hood aimed at the weathercock from miles away. He only just missed.
St Laurence's is the great parish church of Ludlow, largely rebuilt between 1433 and 1471 in the wool-trade boom, with a tall Perpendicular tower and famous misericords. Burne records that Robin Hood once stood on the Titterstone Clee, or at a spot near Ludlow, and shot an arrow at the church weathercock. It fell short and stuck in the roof of the Fletchers' Chancel, where an arrow could be seen. Burne points out that the arrow is really an iron one fixed on the chapel of the fletchers, the arrow-makers' guild, as their sign. So a trade badge became a tale of England's best archer.