Between Story and Soil

England’s Lost Myth Lives On

England's Lost Myths

(Photo: Mark Anthony beside willow archer sculpture, Skipton, on the edges of the Forest of Knaresborough)

Tolkien once said that myths and legends are not lies, but fragments of the truth. He believed England had lost its native mythology — the stories that once grew from its soil and song.

Robin Hood, the legendary outlaw of English folklore, has captured the imagination for centuries through literature, theatre, and cinema. Known for his daring exploits of stealing from the rich to give to the poor, Robin Hood is celebrated as a skilled archer and swordsman. While some versions of the tale portray him as a nobleman returning from the Crusades to reclaim lands stolen by the Sheriff of Nottingham, the earliest stories describe him as a member of the yeoman class. Often depicted in Lincoln green, Robin Hood remains a symbol of resistance against injustice and tyranny.

Here in the Forest of Knaresborough — once part of the great Nidderdale woodlands — traces of that legend endure. Cold Bath Road in Harrogate was formerly known as Robin Hood’s Lane, and in nearby Knaresborough a Robin Hood Inn once stood on Briggate, a reminder that the outlaw’s name still echoed through the centuries. Even 19th-century historians such as the Reverend Joseph Hunter linked Robin Hood directly to this region, describing him not as myth but as a historical figure recorded under Edward II.

These were wild, liminal spaces — royal forests and outlaw refuges — where faith, rebellion, and folklore intertwined. That spirit — defiant, earthy, and deeply human — runs through the stories I’m drawn to tell. Sweetheart speaks for the silenced voices of Yorkshire’s women; Those Who Belong to the Deer follows bloodlines and myths that refuse to die. Both are rooted in the same ground Tolkien spoke of — where history, faith, and folklore share the same breath.

Maybe England never truly lost its mythology. Maybe it’s still here — in the woods, in the moorland wind, and in the stories waiting to be told again.