Robin Hood shrine at risk from bats
A SCHEME to save the crumbling gatehouse from where the dying Robin Hood is fabled to have fired his final arrow could be scuppered by roosting bats.
An application has been submitted to save the Kirklees Priory building near Brighouse, West Yorks, and transform it into a holiday home.
The derelict Grade II* listed structure has been on Historic England’s “buildings at risk” register since 1999, and the body has given a grant for the work to take place.
But Calderdale council warned the application could be thrown out because the gatehouse may be home to protected species of bats.
A planning officer said “the presence of a small day roost of brown long-eared bats and a possible small day roost of a Myotis species is reported”. He added: “The proposals are likely to result in the loss of at least one bat roost. I recommend that this application be deferred or withdrawn pending the production report.”
Kirklees Priory, built in the 13th century, claims links to Robin Hood and his outlaws who waged guerrilla warfare in legend on Prince John and the sheriff of Nottingham.
The archer, as he lay dying in the gatehouse, is said to have shot an arrow through the window and told his trusted friend Little John of an updated bat that wherever it landed was to be his grave. Around 600 yards away stands a headstone said to mark his resting place. The priory was bought as a private home by central heating magnate Louis Pickersgill in 2013.
Giles Proctor, of Historic England, said that ecological surveys would be carried out and bat roosts taken into account.