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Jack O'Legs: A Robin Hood-Type Character

XEPER_

Death to all but metal
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Someone recently mentioned Jack O'Legs to me, as if I should know what that was. I've written a few novels about Robin Hood, but I'd never heard of this legend, and neither had a couple of other authors writing about Hood and some guys I would consider uber-fans of his various incarnations! Basically Jack was a giant medieval archer who robbed from the rich to give to the poor and, when he was dying, he shot an arrow into a churchyard (3 miles away) and asked to be buried there. See any similarities?!
Anyway, here's more on my website: https://stevenamckay.com/2020/09/07/jack-o-legs-who-a-strange-addition-to-the-robin-hood-legend/
 
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New to me as well - is it a very local local local story?
 
From the redoubtable A Dictionary of English Folklore by Jacqueline Simpson and Steve Roud:

Screenshot 2020-09-09 at 22.57.45.png
Screenshot 2020-09-09 at 22.57.54.png
 
From the similarly superlative The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's Legends from Spring-Heeled Jack to the Witches of Warboys by Westwood and Simpson:

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This is wonderful! :)
 
From the similarly superlative The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's Legends from Spring-Heeled Jack to the Witches of Warboys by Westwood and Simpson:

View attachment 29611View attachment 29612

The only site of a filled-in (by 1896, the year of the survey) cave I can find on an admittedly-short search of the area is here:

Jack-o-Legs-Cave-Baldock-Fortean-02.jpg


Here's its modern context (with lat/long for Fortean explorers):

Jack-o-Legs-Cave-Baldock-Fortean-01.jpg


The location of Jack's Hill north of Graveley (note spelling), Herts. on the A.1, is here:

Jack-s-Hill-Baldock-Fortean01.jpg



Lat/long of my estimate of the crest is: 51° 57' 04" N, 0° 12' 08 W

maximus otter
 
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The guy who first mentioned Jack to me is from the area, he goes walking about there. This is what he said when I asked him about a cave:
"You are meant to be able to find it but I never have, whole area was wooded back then. There's a cave in Royston but that would be too far there are still woods around Weston and there could be a cave but no proof.
There is no longer Weston Wood, but you can visit a field that is called ‘The Cave’ with another nearby field named ‘Weston Wood’."
 
A note for anyone wishing to delve further into the Jack O'Legs story ...

In rummaging around archives (etc.) for clues I noticed that older accounts quite often referred to the legendary figure as "Weston Giant" - sometimes as a sort of subtitle added onto a "Jack" reference, but also sometimes as the primary label for him.

It may be that additional historical info / documentation exists that labels him "Weston Giant" without reference to any "Jack" name.
 
The guy who first mentioned Jack to me is from the area, he goes walking about there. This is what he said when I asked him about a cave:
"You are meant to be able to find it but I never have, whole area was wooded back then. There's a cave in Royston but that would be too far there are still woods around Weston and there could be a cave but no proof.
There is no longer Weston Wood, but you can visit a field that is called ‘The Cave’ with another nearby field named ‘Weston Wood’."
The cave in Royston is under the street. The entrance to it is only accessible through a shop in the high street.
 
From the redoubtable A Dictionary of English Folklore by Jacqueline Simpson and Steve Roud:

View attachment 29609View attachment 29610
Well that's one for the Coincidence thread - I was reading about Weston and Jack O' Legs in "Gothick Hertfordshire" by Jennifer Westwood (1989) that arrived from Amazon yesterday when I got home from Work. Lots of other lovely fortean weirdness in the county with grid refs and directions.

jack o' legs.jpg
 
A note for anyone wishing to delve further into the Jack O'Legs story ...

In rummaging around archives (etc.) for clues I noticed that older accounts quite often referred to the legendary figure as "Weston Giant" - sometimes as a sort of subtitle added onto a "Jack" reference, but also sometimes as the primary label for him.

It may be that additional historical info / documentation exists that labels him "Weston Giant" without reference to any "Jack" name.
I'll add that to my original blog post, thank you! I won't add Mytho's comment about the entrance to the cave - don't really want the shop owners coming after me in the unlikely event dozens of cave hunters turn up on their doorstep. :D
 
I've just had a quick play with Google Earth, and the (modern) distance between the nearest parts of Baldock (hanged) and Weston (buried) is approximately 2,500 yards. The world record for a flight shot with an English longbow is 451.5 yards:


Jack o'Legs seems to have been a prodigy...

:rolleyes:

maximus otter
 
I've just had a quick play with Google Earth, and the (modern) distance between the nearest parts of Baldock (hanged) and Weston (buried) is approximately 2,500 yards. The world record for a flight shot with an English longbow is 451.5 yards:


Jack o'Legs seems to have been a prodigy...

:rolleyes:

maximus otter

Well, he was 28ft tall.
 
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