Through the 1950s my brother and I watched 'Robin Hood'. We probably had bows and arrows as well (rubber cup on the end of the arrow maybe) We accepted that Robin was part of our history and never doubted his existence in past times. Yet one of the funny things when I moved here was to see placenames with his name on it. But according to my knowledge of the story it was set around Nottingham with the robber den hidden amongst the trees of Sherwood Forest. Well Nottingham is quite a way down South from here, with only it's border touching Yorkshire. Which as everyone should know is a very large county. Sherwood in days gone past was an enormous forest, so perhaps the forest spread as far as Yorkshire. But then what was Robin doing at Robin Hood Bay on the East coast. Well apparently he was fighting pirates as well.
Stories turn on the twist of words, and this tale had many manifestations. But somehow my childhood reflection is the one I want to keep. But it did make me think of another story and its' truth.
There is the tale that Bath's founding father was Bladud. A young prince who was thrown out of his father's court because he had leprosy. So poor Bladud had to look after pigs and become a pig herder. One day he noticed that his pigs who had skin complaints, rolled in a hot muddy stream and got better so he tried it and his leprosy disappeared. He was allowed back into the bosom of his family and went on to found the City of Bath. Well linguists have had fun and games with all the naming of place-names. But the simplicity of the word Bath had been arrived at a much later date. The Romans called it Aqua Sulis, after the water and the Iron Age goddess Sulis, who is named on one of the cursus which were once found in the fountain there.
Well today as I pottered around and learnt a few more facts. It was Geoffrey of Monmouth who told the tale of Bladud in the 12th century and his understanding was coloured, let us say, by Roman and Greek books of various tales told.
In the telling of the tale Bladud tried to fly and died as a result of this (Icarus who flew to close to the sun is the motif here). But where did Geoffrey get the idea of flying? Well here we go to probably the most famous Celtic head which was found in Bath, and which has two tiny wings hidden in the mane of hair.
The great Celtic Head that faced you at the entrance on the temple pediment as you walked in.His symbolic image brings both Roman and British images of a god together in one. The Romans were clever enough not to enforce their gods on the locals and there is a marriage of the gods that is reflected in the Romano-British population that eventually flourished in Bath and elsewhere.
This head has been classified in the past with the 'Gorgon' head of snakes. In fact there are many interpretations as you will see in this Wiki. The melding of both Sulis, local water goddess and Roman Minerva at the hot springs is to me the practical answer. It says in the Wiki that this was carved by a Gaulish craftsman in the 1st century AD. Read Miranda Aldhouse- Green The Gods of the Romans on the Gaulish gods for a clearer picture. Even now all these years later this head still fills me with curiosity, I sometimes use it as my banner on the side to give me courage as I venture out into the written word.
So why write about it now when I live on the West Yorkshire/lancashire border? Well strangely enough there are a few heads to be found up here. Rather scary ones as a matter of fact and I have never studied them, feeling that the Northern reaches have a more militaristic Roman history and the heads could belong to the foreign mercenaries that kept the border strong in the North.
