Robin Hood In A Midsummer Night's Dream

From Robin Hood’s Bay, the Cleveland Way ascends to the windswept heights of Ravenscar ‘the Town that never was,’ and visits the hidden cove of Hayburn Wyke with its striking twin waterfalls. The trail undulates up and down like a roller-coaster dropping down through green valleys and wooded dells to sea level before rising back to the cliff tops, with excellent coastal scenery throughout.
The first written record for Robin Hood’s Bay was in 1536 when King Henry VIII’s topographer, John Leland, described it as ‘a fisher townlet of twenty boats’. However, the origin of its name is unknown, and there is no evidence that Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest fame ever visited the bay. The name probably arose from a variety of legends and may refer to Robin (in the) Hood, an ancient forest sprite similar to Robin Goodfellow, a more familiar name used for comparable elves and fairies across the country. Apparently, he haunted the barrows on the moor above. Moreover, Robin Goodfellow was the alter-ego of Puck, that mischievous imp of English folklore, immortalised in William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The village has always had a strong connection with the sea, although its thriving fishing fleet began to dwindle in the late nineteenth century and nowadays most of its income derives from tourism. During the eighteenth century, Robin

Fifty tonnes of shale yielded one ton of alum, and left behind vast quarries and spoil heaps which are still visible on the hillside. The primary uses for alum were as a fixative for dyes and for softening leather during the tanning process. One of the critical ingredients used in its production was human urine! Evidently, most natural deodorants contain alum, which prevents the growth of bacteriaand eliminates the odour related to sweat; fortunately, these now utilise synthetic