# Wentbridge

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Village in West Yorkshire, England

Human settlement in England

Wentbridge St John the Evangelist's Church Wentbridge Location within West Yorkshire OS grid reference SE488173 • London 155 mi (249 km) SSE Civil parish Wentbridge Metropolitan borough Wakefield Metropolitan county West Yorkshire Region Yorkshire and the Humber Country England Sovereign state United Kingdom Post town PONTEFRACT Postcode district WF8 Dialling code 01977 Police West Yorkshire Fire West Yorkshire Ambulance Yorkshire UK Parliament Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford Hemsworth List of places UK England Yorkshire 53°38′53″N 1°15′36″W / 53.648°N 1.260°W / 53.648; -1.260

**Wentbridge** is a village and [civil parish](/source/Civil_parish) in the [Wakefield](/source/City_of_Wakefield) district of [West Yorkshire](/source/West_Yorkshire), England. It lies around 3 miles (5 km) southeast of its nearest town of size, [Pontefract](/source/Pontefract), close to the [A1 road](/source/A1_road_(Great_Britain)).

The village contains one of the largest viaducts in Europe, its significance sanctioned by the [Museum of Modern Art](/source/Museum_of_Modern_Art). Wentbridge is one of a number of locations that have connections to the legend of [Robin Hood](/source/Robin_Hood).

## Geography and topography

Wentbridge sits in the heart of the Went Valley, on the northernmost edge of the medieval vale of [Barnsdale](/source/Barnsdale), seen by many medievalists as the official home of Robin Hood.[1] During the Middle Ages the village of Wentbridge was sometimes referred to as Barnsdale because it was the main settlement in the Forest of Barnsdale, and it was possible to look down upon the village from the Saylis. The county boundary follows the A1 from the River Went to Barnsdale Bar, which is the southernmost point of North Yorkshire. Close by to the southwest is the Roman Ridge, a Roman road which closely follows the course of the modern-day A639. To the north is Darrington. Earlier historians had assumed that this district was heavily wooded but aerial photography and excavation have shown that the region has always been a largely pastoral landscape dotted with occasional settlements.[2]

The village of Wentbridge straddles the [River Went](/source/River_Went), from which it takes its name, along a north–south axis and sits less than a mile from the county boundary with North Yorkshire to the east. The village is so named because it was the site of a bridge on the [Great North Road](/source/Great_North_Road_(Great_Britain)) over the River Went. Entrance to the village was down a steep valley side which would have been a problem before motorised transport and eventually became a bottleneck. Wentbridge House, one of the properties near the river and on the Great North Road still exists as the [Wentbridge House Hotel](/source/Wentbridge_House_Hotel).

Robin Hood's Well is on the east of the southbound carriageway of the A1, just south of Barnsdale Bar.

In close proximity to the village of Wentbridge there are, or were, some landmarks that relate to Robin Hood. The earliest-known Robin Hood place-name reference - in Yorkshire or anywhere else - occurs in a deed of 1322 from the two cartularies of Monk Bretton Priory, near Barnsley.[3] The cartulary deed refers in Latin to a landmark named 'the Stone of Robert Hode' (Robin Hood's Stone), which was located in the Barnsdale area. According to J. W. Walker this was on the eastern side of the Great North Road, a mile south of Barnsdale Bar.[4] On the opposite side of the road stood Hood's Well, which has since been relocated six miles north-west of Doncaster, on the south-bound side of the Great North Road.[5]

## Governance

Wentbridge was unusual in that it had parts in three different civil parishes: the entire portion of the village to the north of the river, including the village church, was within the parish of [Darrington](/source/Darrington%2C_West_Yorkshire), whilst south of the river, that part of the village on the west side of the B6474 road was within [Thorpe Audlin](/source/Thorpe_Audlin) parish, with buildings on the road's eastern side formerly in [North Elmsall](/source/North_Elmsall) parish.

The village is divided between two council wards, and two [parliamentary constituencies](/source/United_Kingdom_constituencies): north of the river the village is in the [Pontefract South](/source/Pontefract_South_(electoral_ward)) ward in the [Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford](/source/Normanton%2C_Pontefract_and_Castleford_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) parliamentary constituency; south of the river, the Ackworth, North Elmsall and Upton ward in the [Hemsworth](/source/Hemsworth_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) constituency. The village's two [Members of Parliament](/source/Member_of_parliament) are [Yvette Cooper](/source/Yvette_Cooper) and [Jon Trickett](/source/Jon_Trickett).

As of March 2022, parish boundary changes affecting Wentbridge were being discussed by Wakefield Council.[6] The North Elmsall portion, which was transferred from [Selby District](/source/Selby_District), [North Yorkshire](/source/North_Yorkshire), on an unknown date, was virtually detached from the bulk of North Elmsall parish where the boundary followed a short section of the A1 road.[7] The A1 now forms the eastern boundary of the new parish past the village.

On 1 April 2023 Wentbridge became a separate civil parish, being formed from parts of Darrington, Thorpe Audlin, and the detached part of North Elmsall. The parish has a parish meeting rather than a parish council.[8]

## Amenities

On the Great North Road in the village are a four-star hotel and the Blue Bell Inn [public house](/source/Public_house).[9] The village church is dedicated to [St John the Evangelist](/source/St_John_the_Evangelist). It is within the Went Valley group of [parishes](/source/Parish) in the [Diocese of Leeds](/source/Anglican_Diocese_of_Leeds).

## Wentbridge Viaduct

Main article: [Wentbridge Viaduct](/source/Wentbridge_Viaduct)

Wentbridge Viaduct

To avoid the incline on the valley, when the village was bypassed at a cost of £803,000 in 1961, one of the then-largest [viaducts](/source/Viaduct) in Europe was built to cross the Went valley at a height of 98 feet (30 m) using [prestressed concrete](/source/Prestressed_concrete).[10] It is 308 feet (94 m) long and was designed by F. A. (Joe) Sims, and constructed by Taylor Woodrow[11] and became a Grade II [listed building](/source/Listed_building) on 29 May 1998. In 1964 the engineering significance of the bridge was recognised by New York's [Museum of Modern Art](/source/Museum_of_Modern_Art).[12] Thirty years after its construction it received an award from the [Concrete Society](/source/Concrete_Society).

## History

A [blue plaque](/source/Blue_plaque) commemorating Wentbridge's Robin Hood connections

### Anglo-Saxon history

The Anglo-Saxon [Battle of Winwaed](/source/Battle_of_Winwaed) is believed to have taken place between Wentbridge and Ackworth where what is now the A639 (a main Roman road) crosses the River Went. The battle was a pivotal event that decided the religious destiny of the English. The most powerful pagan king in seventh-century England, [Penda](/source/Penda), was defeated by the Christian Oswiu in 655, effectively ending Anglo-Saxon paganism.[13][14]

Archaeologists believe that a mound in Wentbridge was the location of an Anglo-Saxon fortification.[15]

### Robin Hood

[English Heritage](/source/English_Heritage) has placed a [blue plaque](/source/Blue_plaque) on the bridge that crosses the River Went, recognising Wentbridge's (and Barnsdale's) strong claim to be the original home of Robin Hood. Wentbridge is mentioned in what may be the earliest surviving manuscript of a Robin Hood ballad, "[Robin Hood and the Potter](/source/Robin_Hood_and_the_Potter)": "'Y mete hem bot at Went breg,' s(e)yde Lytyll John" ('I met him but at Wentbridge', said Little John). Though Wentbridge is not specifically named in the medieval ballad entitled "[A Gest of Robyn Hode](/source/A_Gest_of_Robyn_Hode)", the ballad does appear to make a cryptic reference to the locality by depicting a friendly knight explaining to Robin that he ‘went at a brydge’ where there was 'a wraste-lyng' (wrestling).[16]

### The Saylis

Site of the Saylis

The *Gest of Robyn Hode* makes specific references to 'the Saylis' and 'the Sayles', and a landmark by that name was certainly located near Wentbridge. The outlaw himself mentions the site in the First Fytte of the *Gest*.[17]

The 19th-century antiquary Joseph Hunter (a Yorkshireman by birth) identified its likely site: a small tenancy, of one-tenth of a knight's fee (i.e. a knight's annual income), located on high ground 500 yards (457.2 metres) to the east of the village of Wentbridge in the manor of Pontefract.[18] The high ground which overlooks the area – 120 feet (36.576 metres) above the flat terrain - was then known as Sayles Plantation. From this location it was possible to see across the whole of the Went Valley and observe the traffic that passed along the Great North Road, thus demonstrating its significance as a lookout-point in the *Gest*. The Saylis is recorded as having contributed towards the aid that was granted to King Edward III in 1346-47 for the knighting of his son, the Black Prince.[19] Such evidence of continuity makes it virtually certain that the Saylis or Sayles which was so well known to the Robin Hood of the "Gest" survived into modern times as the 'Sayles Plantation' near Wentbridge.[20] The historians Richard Barrie Dobson and John Taylor indicate that this location provides a specific clue to Robin Hood's Wentbridge heritage.[21]

### Swein-son-of-Siccga, 'The Prince of Thieves'

An infamous outlaw known as 'The Prince of Thieves" once inhabited Wentbridge. A medieval chronicler speaks of an outlaw named Swein-son-of-Sicga who robbed Abbot Benedict of Selby and "constantly prowled around Yorkshire's woods with his band on perpetual raids".[22] J. Green indicates that [Hugh fitzBaldric](/source/Hugh_fitzBaldric), the late-eleventh-century [Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire](/source/High_Sheriff_of_Nottinghamshire%2C_Derbyshire_and_the_Royal_Forests), held responsibility for bringing Swein-son-of-Sicga to justice.[23] Historians indicate that the deeds of Yorkshire's outlaws, men such as Swein-son-of-Siccga, and their battles against the Sheriff of Nottingham, gave birth to the legend of Robin Hood.[24]

## See also

- [Listed buildings in Darrington, West Yorkshire](/source/Listed_buildings_in_Darrington%2C_West_Yorkshire)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Hunter, Joseph, "Robin Hood", in *Robin Hood: An Anthology of Scholarship and Criticism*, ed. by Stephen Knight (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1999) pp.187-196. Holt, J.C., *Robin Hood*, 2nd edition (London: Thames and Hudson, 2011). [Holt, J.C.](/source/J._C._Holt), ["Robin Hood"](http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/printable/13676) in *Oxford Dictionary of National Biography* (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004-13). Holt, J.C. "The Origins and Audience of the Ballads of Robin Hood" in *Robin Hood: An Anthology of Scholarship and Criticism*, ed. by Stephen Knight (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1999). Bellamy, John, *Robin Hood: An Historical Enquiry* (London: Croom Helm, 1985). Keen, Maurice, *The Outlaws of Medieval Legend*, 2nd edition (London and Henley: Routledge and Kegan Paul; Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1977) [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-7102-1203-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-7102-1203-8).. Maddicott, J.R., "The Birth and Setting of the Ballads of Robin Hood" in *Robin Hood: An Anthology of Scholarship and Criticism*, ed. by Stephen Knight (Woodbridge: D.S. Brewer, 1999) pp.233-256. Dobson, R. B. and John Taylor, *Rymes of Robyn Hode: An Introduction to the English Outlaw*, 3rd edition (Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 1997). Crook, David, "Some Further Evidence Concerning the Dating of the Origins of the Legend of Robin Hood", in *Robin Hood: An Anthology of Scholarship and Criticism*, ed. by Stephen Knight (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1999) pp.257-262. Matheson, Lister, "The Dialects and Language of Selected Robin Hood Poems", in *Robin Hood: The Early Poems, 1465-1560: Texts, Contexts and Ideology* ed. Thomas Ohlgren (Newark, Delaware: University of Delaware Press, 2007) pp.189-210

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Eric Houlder, *Ancient Roots North: When Pontefract Stood on the Great North Road*, (Pontefract: Pontefract Groups Together, 2012) p.7.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** In 1924 the antiquary J. W. Walker redated the deed to 1422 (with apparent justification), claiming an alleged scribal error, and this redating has been widely accepted ever since. ( See ref 4 below.) In both cartularies the actual year written on the copy of the 'Robin Hood's Stone' deed is 1322. Both Monk Bretton cartularies are in the British Library. In this the full date of the deed is given, in Latin words and numerals. These translate directly as 'the Sixth of June, the Lord's Day, in the Feast of the Holy Trinity, One-Thousand 300 Twenty-Two' (ie Trinity Sunday, 6 June 1322). This is a perfectly correct date, both in the Church Calendar and in the civil Julian Calendar, which was used in the British Isles until the middle of the 18th century. In 1322 the Sixth of June fell on a Sunday, and Sunday the Sixth of June was Trinity Sunday. In 1422 the Sixth of June fell on a Saturday, and Trinity Sunday was the Seventh of June. (Calendar years are not repeated at 100-year intervals in either the Julian or Gregorian calendars.) In the date itself there is no evidence of scribal error. See [C. R. Cheney](/source/C._R._Cheney) and Michael Jones: *A Handbook of Dates for students of British history* (London: Royal Historical Society 1945/new edition: Cambridge University Press 2000, reprinted 2004) pp196-199. See also Jim Lees: "The Quest for Robin Hood" (Nottingham: Temple Nostalgia Press 1987) p120.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** "Abstracts of the Chartularies of the Priory of Monkbretton", Record Series Vol. LXVI, edited by J. W. Walker (Leeds: The Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1924) pp105-106.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Dobson and Taylor, p. 22

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** [Wakefield Council: Community Governance Review](https://www.wakefield.gov.uk/Documents/elections/published-report-of-initial-recommendations.pdf)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** [Wakefield Council: North Elmsall parish boundary map](https://www.wakefield.gov.uk/Documents/elections/elections-2022/community-governance-review/north-elmsall-parish-cgr.pdf)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["The City of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council (Reorganisation of Community Governance) Order 2023"](https://www.wakefield.gov.uk/media/p1vj2dgo/community-governance-order-with-supporting-maps.pdf) (PDF). [Wakefield Council](/source/Wakefield_Council). Retrieved 2 August 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Biff Vernon, ["A1-The Great North Road: Wentbridge"](http://www.biffvernon.freeserve.co.uk/wentbridge.htm), Freeserve.co.uk, retrieved 21 December 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** [Wentbridge Viaduct and By-pass](http://www.ciht.org.uk/motorway/a1redwenscheme.htm#wentbp), Region: North East: A1 Improvement schemes. Redhouse to Wentbridge, The Motorway Archive, CIHT, [archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20120319152102/http://www.ciht.org.uk/motorway/a1redwenscheme.htm#wentbp) 19 March 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** ["Open New Motorway (1961)"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOZxb07CT8U). [Archived](https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/GOZxb07CT8U) from the original on 21 December 2021 – via www.youtube.com.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** [Historic England](/source/Historic_England). ["Wentbridge Viaduct Carrying Bypass over Valley of River Went, Kirk Smeaton (Grade II) (1323681)"](https://HistoricEngland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1323681?section=official-list-entry). *[National Heritage List for England](/source/National_Heritage_List_for_England)*. Retrieved 26 June 2014.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** Higham N. J. 1993, *Northumbria*

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Breeze, A. C. "The Battle of the Uined and the River Went, Yorkshire", *Northern History*, XLI.2, September 2004

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Houlder, p. 7

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** The Gest of Robyn Hode, Stanza 135 p. 88

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** The "Gest", Stanza 18, repeated with slight variations at Stanza 209, pp. 80, 94.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** Joseph Hunter, "The Great Hero of the Ancient Minstrelsy of England", *Critical and Historical Tracts* 4 (1852 pp. 15-16).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** Hunter, pp. 15-16).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** Dobson and Taylor, p. 22; Holt, p. 85.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** Dobson and Taylor p. 22

1. **[^](#cite_ref-22)** Historia Selebiensis Monasterii, ed. by Janet Burton and Lynda Lockyer (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2013) Chapter 17 p. 45.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-23)** Green, Judith A., *English Sheriffs to 1154*, Public Records Handbook No. 24 (London: HMSO, 1990), pp.67 & 89

1. **[^](#cite_ref-24)** Lewis, Brian, *Robin Hood: A Yorkshire Man*. La' Chance, S., "The Origins and Development of Robin Hood", University of Leeds Library. Kapelle, William E., *The Norman Conquest of the North: The Region and Its Transformation, 1000-1135* (London: Croom Helm, 1979)

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Wentbridge](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wentbridge).

- [Wentbridge Church](http://www.wentvalleyparishes.co.uk/index.html)

v t e Robin Hood Characters and settings Characters Main Robin Hood Maid Marian The Jolly Pinder of Wakefield Sheriff of Nottingham Guy of Gisbourne Prince John Bishop of Hereford Richard at the Lee King Richard Merry Men Little John Much the Miller's Son Will Scarlet Arthur a Bland David of Doncaster Will Stutely Friar Tuck Alan-a-Dale Gilbert Whitehand Settings Sherwood Forest Major Oak Nottingham Loxley St Mary's Abbey, York Barnsdale Wentbridge Media Screen Film Robin Hood (1912) Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood (1922) The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946) The Prince of Thieves (1948) Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950) Tales of Robin Hood (1951) The Story of Robin Hood (1952) The Men of Sherwood Forest (1954) Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960) The Triumph of Robin Hood (1962) A Challenge for Robin Hood (1967) Long Live Robin Hood (1971) Wolfshead: The Legend of Robin Hood (1973) The Arrows of Robin Hood (1975) Robin and Marian (1976) Aaj Ka Robin Hood (1988) O Mistério de Robin Hood (1990) Robin Hood (1991) Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) Princess of Thieves (2001) Robin Hood (2010) Robin Hood (2018) The Death of Robin Hood (2026) TV Robin Hood (1953) The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955) The Legend of Robin Hood (1968) The Legend of Robin Hood (1975) Robin of Sherwood (1984) The New Adventures of Robin Hood (1997) Robin Hood (2006, episodes, characters) Robyn Hood (2023) Robin Hood (2025) Animated Robin Hood Makes Good (1939) Rabbit Hood (1949) Robin Hood Daffy (1958) Robin Hoodwinked (1958) Rocket Robin Hood (1966) Robin Hood (1973) Robin Hood (1990) Young Robin Hood (1991) Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse (2012) Sherwood (2019) Parody About Seven Brothers (1968) When Things Were Rotten (1975) The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood (1984) Maid Marian and Her Merry Men (1989) Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) Alternate settings Mexicali Rose (1939 film) Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964 film) Naan Sigappu Manithan (1985 Tamil film) Nyayam Meere Cheppali (1985 Telugu film) Robin of Locksley (1996 film) Catch Me Now (2008 Chinese TV series) Alyas Robin Hood (2016 Philippines TV series) Popular culture Statue of Robin Hood Robin Hood (DC Comics character) Robin Hood (Disney character) Child ballads 8: Erlinton 102: Willie and Earl Richard's Daughter 103: Rose the Red and White Lily 115: Robyn and Gandeleyn 117: A Gest of Robyn Hode 118: Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne 119: Robin Hood and the Monk 120: Robin Hood's Death 121: Robin Hood and the Potter 123: Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar 124: The Jolly Pinder of Wakefield 126: Robin Hood and the Tanner 127: Robin Hood and the Tinker 128: Robin Hood Newly Revived 129: Robin Hood and the Prince of Aragon 130: Robin Hood and the Scotchman 131: Robin Hood and the Ranger 132: The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood 136: Robin Hood's Delight 138: Robin Hood and Allan-a-Dale 139: Robin Hood's Progress to Nottingham 140: Robin Hood Rescuing Three Squires 141: Robin Hood Rescuing Will Stutly 142: Little John a Begging 143: Robin Hood and the Bishop 144: Robin Hood and the Bishop of Hereford 145: Robin Hood and Queen Katherine 146: Robin Hood's Chase 147: Robin Hood's Golden Prize 148: The Noble Fisherman 151: The King's Disguise, and Friendship with Robin Hood 152: Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow 153: Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight 154: A True Tale of Robin Hood Stage / theatre The Downfall and The Death of Robert Earl of Huntington (1598 and 1601 plays) The Merrie Men of Sherwood Forest (1871 operetta) Robin Hood (1890 De Koven opera) The Foresters (1892 play) Robin Hood (1934 Tippett opera) Twang!! (1965 musical parody) Robin Hood (1998 ballet) Robin des Bois (2013 musical) Video games Robin of Sherwood: The Touchstones of Rhiannon (1985) Robin of the Wood (1985) Super Robin Hood (1986) The Adventures of Robin Hood (1991) Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood (1991) Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood (2002) Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown (2003) Robin Hood's Quest (2007) Volume (2015) Hood: Outlaws & Legends (2021) Literature A Gest of Robyn Hode (probably 15th century) Ivanhoe (1819) Maid Marian (1822) The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (1883) Bows against the Barons (1934) The Once and Future King (1958) The Outlaws of Sherwood (1988) Through a Dark Mist (1991) Lady of the Forest (1992) In the Shadow of Midnight (1994) The Last Arrow (1997) Lady of Sherwood (1999) King Raven Trilogy (2006) Music Legend (1984 soundtrack) "Robin (The Hooded Man)" "Love" (song) "Not in Nottingham" (song) "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" (song) The Tale of Gamelyn Robin Hood (2010 soundtrack) Robin Hood (2018 soundtrack) Alan Dale Outlaw (2009) Holy Warrior (2010) King's Man (2011) The Outlaw Chronicles (2012–2016) Related Miss Robin Hood Son of the Guardsman The Son of Robin Hood The Bandit of Sherwood Forest Robin Hood's Larder Robin Hood Morality Test "Robot of Sherwood" "Robin Good and His Not-So-Merry Men" Once Upon a Time The Tales of Robin Hood (former Nottingham attraction) Once Upon a Studio Category

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