Original subtitles

Man: Very Old Passageway.

Wow, This Is Amazing.

Do You Think That Robin Hood Was A Real Man?

Ugh!

So If The Story's True, Somewhere On This Property,

Robin Hood Is Buried.

Absolutely Incredible.

Good Lord!

This Is Amazing.

Robin Hood Could Be Right Here?

[ Beeping ]

-Oh! -Look At That!

♪♪

Look In An Movie Theater,

And You'll See Screens Filled With Superheroes.

They Fight For The Powerless. They Have Loyal Sidekicks.

They Defeat Their Enemies, And They Get The Girl.

And They All Have A Common Ancestor -- Robin Hood.

Meet The World's First Superhero.

He's Been A Fixture Of Folklore Since The 1300S,

And His Popularity Shows No Signs Of Waning.

But With So Many Stories,

One Simple Question Remains Strangely Elusive --

Was Robin Hood A Real Person?

Was There A Vigilante In Sherwood Forest

Who Stole From The Rich And Gave To The Poor?

Recent Archaeological Discoveries In Nottingham

Have Revealed Miles Of Tunnels Beneath The City

That May Provide Clues About Robin Hood's Identity.

And Researchers In Two Different Locations May Be On The Verge

Of Uncovering The Final Resting Place

Of The World's Most Famous Thief.

New Evidence Is Revealing A Robin Hood Legend

Unlike Any You've Ever Heard.

And It May Change Who You Root For.

My Mission -- To Dive Into 800 Years Of Legends,

To Investigate The Tunnels Beneath Nottingham

And Join Historians In Search Of Hood's Grave.

My Hope Is To Learn Once And Of All, Who Was Robin Hood?

And Was He Really The Hero We've Made Him Out To Be?

♪♪

My Name Is Josh Gates.

With A Degree In Archaeology And A Passion For Exploration,

I Have A Tendency To End Up In Some Very Strange Situations.

Good Lord! [ Laughs ]

My Travels Have Taken Me To The Ends Of The Earth

As I Investigate The Greatest Legends In History.

We're Gonna Fly, Let's Go.

This Is "Expedition Unknown."

--Captions By Vitac-- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions Paid For By Discovery Communications

A Long Flight Across The Atlantic

Lands Me In London, England.

More Than Just A World Capital,

London Sometimes Feels Like The Capital Of The World.

♪♪

The City Of London,

Maybe More Than Any Other Major City In The World,

Defies A Simple Description.

London Isn't Just A City.

It's Every City, A Mecca Of Art, Music, Fashion, Culture.

And While It's Dripping In History, Somehow London

Manages To Be Totally Modern.

And All The Pieces Seem To Fit Together Into Something

That Is Inherently British.

It's Here In The Center Of The British Empire

That I'm About To Start My Quest To Find Robin Hood.

For A Moment, Though, I Just Want To Soak All Of This In.

In Case You Hadn't Noticed,

The English Drive On The Left Side Of The Road.

That Takes Some Getting Used To.

God.

This Is A Very Dangerous City To Be An American In.

Welcome To London!

Oh, My Gosh.

You Are London.

Do I Recognize You From Somewhere?

Yeah, I'm On Tv.

Really? Which One?

Uh, It's Called "To Catch A Predator."

Sir, Why Don't You Have A Seat?

[ Laughs ]

The Stereotype Of The Repressed, Uptight Englishman

Takes Yet Another Hit.

Sightseeing Has Been A Blast.

But I'll Admit, I Was Expecting A Bit

More For One London Landmark.

I Got To Tell You, I Don't Know Why They Call This Thing

Big Ben.

It's Tiny.

Total Disappointment.

I'm In London To Check Out The Humble Beginnings

Of The Robin Hood Legend

Here In The British Library,

Home To Just About Important Document

In The History Of The Empire.

The Original Robin Hood Stories Weren't In The Movies,

They Were Ballads Sung By Medieval Troubadours

Traveling From Town To Town As The Entertainment Of The Day.

Eventually The Songs Were Written Down As Lyric Poems.

And Some Of The Earliest Versions Still Exist Today.

In A Special Viewing Room,

I've Been Granted Extremely Rare Permission

To See An Original Printing, First Hand.

And What Year Is This From?

It Was Published In London Around About 1560.

450 Years Old.

The Overdue Fines On This Thing Are Brutal.

That Is Absolutely Amazing.

"Here Beginneth A Little Jest

Of Robin Hood And His Merry Men

And Of The Proud Sheriff Of Nottingham."

That Beginning Is Really What We Think Of When

We Think Of The Beginning Of The Story Of Robin Hood.

"The Jest Of Robin Hood"

Is A Collection Of The Original Ballads,

Which Have Many Of The Essential Robin Hood Details That We Still

Associate With Him Today.

He's A Proficient Archer Who Lives In Sherwood Forest

With His Merry Men.

Including His Faithful Righthand-Man,

The Immense Little John.

And The Perennially-Plastered Friar Tuck.

And He Of Course, He Does Battle

Against The Wicked Sheriff Of Nottingham.

While The Core Elements Of The Story

Have Remained Un-Changed For Hundreds Of Years,

It Turns Out There Are Also Startling Differences

In The Source Material.

Many Of The Tales Are Brutally Violent.

And Robin's Love Interest, Maid Marian,

No Where To Be Found.

Most Shockingly,

The Original Robin Hood Robs Wealthy Travelers,

But Doesn't Seem Too Concerned About Giving To The Poor.

That Character Trait Doesn't Appear For Centuries.

Do You Think That These Writings Are Based On A Real Man?

Characters Throughout The Ages Were Called Robin Hood.

And I Would Think Probably A Grain Of Truth In There.

How Much, I Don't Know.

Somebody Starts Telling The Story,

Are They Always Based On Something?

That's The Mystery.

Now That I've Seen On Of The Original Ballads For My Self,

My First Stop Is One Of The Most Famous Locations

In The Robin Hood Legend -- Nottingham.

[ Engine Turns Over ]

There We Go, She's Alive. All Right.

Robin Hood, Let's Do This.

My Sweet Ride Through The English Countryside

Is Older Than I Am,

But It's Still A Triumph, One Might Say,

Of British Engineering.

This Is A 1968 Triumph Bonneville, 650 Ccs,

This Is The Bike That I Dream About

When I Go To Sleep At Night.

Although I Am On The Wrong Side Of The Road,

And My Brake And My Shifter Are Reversed,

I Can't Imagine What Could Go Wrong.

Nottingham Is Just Over 100 Miles North Of London.

Which I Means I Can Get There Without Missing Tea-Time.

This Is The Heart Of Where Many

Of Robin Hood's Adventures Took Place.

And Of Course, Was Home To His Arch-Enemy,

The Sheriff Of Nottingham.

And Even Today, Hood's Influence Is Felt Everywhere You Look.

♪ It's All About The Journey From The Bottom To The Top ♪

♪ Hold On Tight Till You Get There ♪

♪ It's A Long Time Till You Stop ♪

When I Think Of Nottingham, I Think Of A Legendary Place,

A Medieval City With An Infamous Outlaw.

Which Is Why It Is Very Surprising To Find This --

♪ Even With The Rain And Thunder, Baby ♪

♪ Heading On Down The Track ♪

A Modern, Bustling Town.

Including The Suburbs, There's More Than A Million

And A Half People Here.

It's Brimming With Shops And Pubs And Students.

It's A Place That Robin Hood Would Hardly Recognize.

♪ I Know I Ain't Alone When I Walk A Wondering Soul ♪

On The Other Side Of Town,

I Nervously Make My Way To Meet Someone Who's Made A Career

Out Of Hunting Down Robin Hood --

The Dreaded, And Very Real, Sheriff Of Nottingham

Next To The Monarch Of England, The Sheriff Of Nottingham

Is The Oldest Continuously Held Office In The Country.

We Know The Sheriff Of The 12Th Century Stories

As A Treacherous Villain Who Led A Corrupt Regime.

As For The Sheriff Of 2015...

I'm About To Find Out.

Hello?

Gates: My Search For The Real Robin Hood

Has Brought Me, Naturally, To Nottingham --

Home Jurisdiction Of Hood's Nemesis, The Evil High Sheriff.

Hello?

Hello.

Very Nice To Meet You.

Welcome To Nottingham.

Thank You Very Much?

You Are The...

Real Sheriff Of Nottingham.

I Have To Say, That Is So Cool.

For Someone With The Most Notorious Job Title

In The World, She's A Lot Less Alan Rickman

And A Lot More Maggie Smith.

Actually, I Actually Felt Nervous Knocking On Your Door.

Nobody's Nervous Of Me.

Are You Out There Busting Crime?

It's A Ceremonial Role These Days.

Your Predecessor Has Kind Of A Bad Reputation.

Yes.

They Administered The Land For The King,

And They Had The Powers To Condemn People To Death.

Do You Have The Power To Condemn Me To Death?

Not Now. Not Since 1972.

Well, Nobody Was Better At --

At Capturing Robin Hood Than The Sheriff Of Nottingham.

Do You Have Any Tips For Me?

Well, We Didn't Hold Onto Him For Very Long,

So It Wasn't Much Good.

I Think He Died An Old Man, Apparently.

You Were Good At Catching Him, But Not Keeping Him?

Not Keeping Him, Yeah.

Jackie Tells Me That In "The Jest Of Robin Hood,"

The Sheriff Of Nottingham Captures Our Hero And Imprisons

Him In The Infamous Dungeons Of Nottingham Castle.

But He Flees Through A Series Of Tunnels Beneath The Fortress.

But Is This Even Possible?

The Ability To Verify The Story

Could Tell Us Whether Or Not Robin Hood Was A Real Man.

And Lucky For Me, The Remains Of The Castle Survive Today.

This What's Known As Castle Rock.

Really Commanding Position,

It Looks Out More Than 100 Feet Over The City And River Beyond.

And There Has Been Some Sort Of Fortress Here

For At Least 1,000 Years.

Tim. -Pleased To Meet You.

How Are You?

Tim Pollard Is A Life-Long Nottingham Resident

And Researcher Who Has Spent Decades

Studying The Legend Of Robin Hood.

This Does Not Look Like Nottingham Castle,

This Looks Like A Nice, Stately Home.

Pollard: Uh, It Is, But At The Time Of Robin Hood,

There Would Have Been A Stone Castle Here.

And That Would Have Been The Seat Of The Sheriff

Of Nottingham, Who Of Course, You've Heard Of.

Okay, Well Let's See Where Robin Hood Was Locked Up.

Absolutely, This Way.

Let's Uh, Head Down Into The Darkness Now.

Oh, It Is Dark.

A Proper Old-Fashioned Gate.

Wow, This Is Amazing.

A Very Old Passageway.

Going Down Underneath The Sandstone

That The Castle Is Built On.

It Does Go Quite Deep Underground.

Absolutely, From The Top Of The Castle Rock,

40 Meters All The Way Down To Ground Level.

And Then It Continues To Go Further Underground Then That.

Eight Centuries Fall Away,

Just Going Down The Stairs From The Surface

To The Dungeon Of Nottingham Castle.

We Are Coming Into A Genuine Medieval Dungeon.

This Would Have Been Here From 1068.

This Is Original Stonework From The Dungeon?

Yeah, Absolutely, Feel The History.

Imagine You're Robin Hood,

You've Been Captured By The Sheriff Of Nottingham.

You're Trapped In Here, There's Really No Way Out.

And If You're Gonna Get Out Of This, You Need To Go Be Good.

One Of The Rooms Attached To This Cave System

Is The Sheriff Of Nottingham's Wine Cellar

Where He Kept All The Good Stuff For Himself.

One Of The Legends Tells That Robin Engages The Sheriff

In Conversation.

Get's The Sheriff And His Guards Very, Very Drunk.

He Manages Then To Escape Through Some

Of The Other Exit Ways.

Now, We Just Came Down A Single Stair Case, A Single Tunnel,

Into This One Room.

That Seems Pretty Hard To Escape From.

Is That Everything That's Down Here Or Is There More?

No, Underneath The Castle Is Riddled With Caves.

We're Actually Coming Down Further Underground.

Whoa.

This Is Wild.

So This Is The Entrance To Some Of The Caves.

Oh, Wow.

Underneath The Castle Is Riddled With Natural Caves

As Well As The Man-Made Ones,

And There's Areas Caves Underneath And Tunnels

Underneath The Rock That We Still Haven't

Explored Fully, Either.

And If Robin Could Find His Way Into One Of Those Passage Ways,

He's Gonna Be Able To Make His Out

Through The Castle Rock And Escape To Freedom.

A Lot Of These Passages Haven't Been Explored, Even Today?

Not Even Today, No.

There's There's A Project Going On

To Map A Lot Of The Tunnels And Caves

Under Nottingham Castle And Around The City Center.

They're Building A 3D Map Of All The Tunnels

And Caves That They Find.

That's Amazing.

Do You Think There Was A Robin Hood.

Pollard: Yes, There's Lots Of Things That Tie This Together.

And There's Every Reason To Believe That Was A Real Man

At The Basis Of That.

So If A Labyrinth Of Caves Under Nottingham Is Being Mapped,

Perhaps One Those Caves Contains A Clue To Robin's True Identity.

Tim Directs Me To Meet With Archaeologist, Peter Hammond,

Part Of A Team That's Been Making Incredible New Findings

Underneath Nottingham.

But Instead Of A Dig-Site,

The Address He's Given Me Appears To Be

A High-End Men's Clothing Store.

Ah, Josh?

Yes, Are You Peter?

I'm Peter Hammond, Welcome To Paul Smith Shop

Here In Nottingham.

I'm Happy To Be Here But I'm Very Confused To Be Here.

So This Is A Lovely Store,

But I Was Told That You Are A Man

To See About Caves And Dungeons And Things Like That.

Correct.

Like Many Of Nottingham's Buildings,

There Are Secrets Beneath.

Come This Way.

I Do Need Some Pants, Too, While I'm Here.

Just This Way.

Like Most Stores, There's A Basement.

Unlike Most Stores, There Is A Secret Sub-Basement.

This Way, Josh.

Look At That.

This Goes Way Down.

Whoa.

Gates: Deep Underneath The City Of Nottingham, Archaeologist

Peter Hammond Is Excavating A Network Of Caves

That Could Verify Aspect Of The Robin Hood Legend

Of The 13Th Century.

This Is Not What I Expected To Find

Under A Posh Men's Clothing Store.

Certainly Not.

This Is Incredible. What Is This?

It's Basically A Wine-Cellar.

All Hand-Dug?

All Handmade, You Can See The Pick Marks.

This Is Amazing.

Are There Many Of These Caves Under Nottingham?

There's Hundreds, There's Over 500 Caves Discovered So Far.

500? And There's Still Things Being Found Down Here?

In Fact, They're Doing Some Work

Down In These Caves At The Moment.

Just Down Here.

Dr. Hammond Leads Me Deeper Into The Caves

Where I Make Another Discovery.

This Guy.

Hello.

This Is Dr. Lukasz Bonenberg

From The University Of Nottingham.

He's Been Using Cutting-Edge Laser Mapping

To Make 3D Renderings Of The Nottingham Caves.

Beams Of Light Pour Over Every Inch Of Surface Area

Creating An A Detailed Map Of The Cave.

Far More Accurate Then Any Hand Measurement Could Ever Be.

Here We Go.

Look At That. That Is So Cool.

So It's A Full 3D Laser Scan Of The Entire Room.

Yes.

The 3D Images That This Thing Creates Are Amazing.

There's Nothing That Could Hide From The Lasers, Including Us.

And In Terms Of Archaeological Evidence,

Could You Show Me A Bit Of What You're Finding Down Here?

Sure, Yeah, If You Come Over This Way.

Sure, Yeah.

Wow, This Is Something Else.

Look At All Of This Glass.

Are You Finding Things Down Here From The Era

That Robin Hood Is Supposed To Have Lived In?

Yes, 1200S, 1300S, 1400S.

Lots Of Material, Particularly Pottery From That Time.

Here's An Old Clay Pipe

From Just Before The English Civil War, I'd Just Say.

That's Incredible.

And A Lot Of Bottles.

Someone Had A Real Blow-Out Down Here.

A Smashing Time.

What A Neat Window Into The Past?

It Is Amazing. -'Tis Amazing.

And To Say They're Still Being Excavated All The Time.

And You'd Just Never Know What We're Find Next,

That's What Makes It So Exciting.

When I Find Artifacts Like These In The Caves,

And I Think, "Who Last Held These, Was It Robin Hood?"

You Never Know. -Wow, Amazing.

Well, Thank You So Much For The Tour. I Appreciate.

-Thank You. -All The Best. Thanks, Doctor.

The Final Scans Reveal Not Just This Cave,

But A Spider Web Of Passages Beneath The Castle,

Along With Materials From Robin Hood's Era.

We Now Know That His Legendary Escapes Were Possible

And Hold Up To The Scrutiny Of Modern Archaeology.

Satisfied That New Evidence Could Emerge Here In Time,

I Leave Nottingham To Get Back On The Case.

But Like Everywhere Else In The World,

You Exit Through The Gift Shop.

Hard To Believe They Have This, Very, Very Rare

And Original Robin Hood Mouse Pad.

I Am Robin Hood.

I Am Friar Tuck.

We've Scaled Way Back This Season In Our Budget.

We've Got Robin Hood, We've Got Friar Tuck.

And Of Course, Maid Bear-Rian.

Back On The Trail, My Trusty Bike And I Head Out

To The Most Famous Location In Robin Hood Lore.

It's 20 Short Miles North To Where Else?

Sherwood Forest.

Sherwood Forest Isn't Just Where Robin Hood Robbed The Rich,

It Was Said To Be His Home And That Of His Merry Men.

So In Medieval Times, Sherwood Was A Royal Forest.

It Was Huge, Stretched On For More Than 30 Miles.

It's Much Smaller Today.

But You Could Still Imagine --

Good Lord!

Oh, Boy.

Who Are You That Walks Through My Forest?

Uh, I'm Josh.

Are You...

-Robin Hood? -Yes.

I Stand Before You,

Hero Of Sherwood Forest, Champion Of England.

I'm Definitely Having An Acid Trip Right Now.

I'm Sorry To Intrude. I Appreciate You Not Killing Me.

You Are Welcome. You Are Granted Safe Passage.

Ade Andrews Is The Robin Hood Of Sherwood.

Of Course He Is, What Else Is He Going To Do Dressed Like That?

He's Dedicated His Life To Studying And Recreating

The Persona Of The World's Most Famous Thief.

There's This Huge Legend

And It's Changed So Much Over Time.

But What I Want To Know Is, Is There A Man Underneath It All?

If You Want To Understand The Truth

Of The Legend Of Robin Hood,

You Need To Know What It Was Like To Live In Those Times.

You Need To Feel It In You're Bones, My Friend.

I Got A Funny Feeling This Is Going

To Be Very Embarrassing For Me.

How's It Going, Man?

Gates: I'm Pretty Sure I Look Ridiculous.

[ Laughs ]

It'll Do, My Friend.

The Forest Is Waiting.

[ Chuckles ]

I Feel Like You Look Like A Bad-Ass Warrior.

I Look Like An Extra In A Monty Python Sketch.

-Like A Peasant? -Yes, I Look Like A Peasant.

Well, Robin Hood Was A Peasant.

-So I'm In Good Company? -You Are, Indeed.

Well, Let's Step Into The Greenwood Path And Show

You What It Was Like To Be An Outlaw In Medieval England.

Let's Do It.

Now Appropriately Attired, I Follow Ade Into Sherwood,

Trying To Connect The Stories Of 800 Years

With The Woods That Surround Us Today.

What Are The Elements In The Legends

That We Know Are True?

The Locations, The Geography,

Passing Right Through Sherwood Forest

Was The Great North Road,

Which Is The Main Road Linking London With York.

So, Of Course, There Are Many Travelers On This,

Whether It Was The The Fat Bishops Or The Norman Lords,

They Would Of Been Easy Prey For Those Sort Of Outside The Law.

And, Of Course, This Tree Here Is The Major Oak,

The World's Most Famous Tree, Surely.

Legend Tells Us Robin Hood And His Merry Men Met Here.

The Heartwood Of The Oak Tree Dies Away And Becomes Hollow,

So There's A Natural Cave In There, You Could Fit 14 People.

Wow. How Old Is The Tree?

It's Around 1,000 Years Old.

That's Insane.

So If Robin Hood Were Real,

This Tree May Been Alive When He Was Alive?

-Indeed. -Who Knows That This Tree Saw.

We Go Deeper Into The Forest,

And As The Trees Close In Around Us,

I Begin To Consider What It

Might Have Been Like To Actually Live Here In Medieval England.

We See Robin Through Kind Of A Disney Lens Today,

This Sort Of Sanitized, Noble Outlaw.

That Is Far From The Truth.

Can You Imagine Living In This Forest

In The Deepest Mid-Winter?

Mud, Sleet, Rain, Ice, No Food, Darkness.

It Would Have Been An Absolute Nightmare.

And Of Course, These Real Outlaws,

They Were Desperate And Dangerous People.

The Robin Hood Legends Were Born Of A Time

When A King Ruled Over Nobles

Who Heavily Taxed The People Of Their Districts.

Outlaws Like Robin Hood Rose Up To Strike Out

Against The Only Class In England With Money

And Became Heroes For The Poor And The Disenfranchised.

They Would Have Robbed And Killed Anyone

Who Crossed Their Path.

Stop It, You're Breaking My Heart.

In A Clearing, Ade Introduces Me To A Couple Of His Merry Men.

Robin Hood Had Little John.

He's Got These Two Guys.

My Outlaws -- Wolf And Friar Tuck.

-Nice To Meet You. -Bless You, My Son.

-Wolf Is It? -Pleasure, Yes.

-So, Merry Men? -Indeed.

But If You Really Want To Know What It's Like To Be Robin Hood,

You've Got To Be Able To Fight Like Robin Hood.

Okay, So What Are The Options?

Well, You Could Either Fight Me With A Sword,

Or I Could Show You The Bow And Arrow.

Well, Let's Do The Sword.

Okay.

♪♪

♪♪

Let's Do The Arrows.

Gates: Ade Andrews And His Merry Men Are Helping Me On My Quest

To Uncover The Real Robin Hood

By Showing Me How Medieval Bandits Actually Fought.

For His Hands-On Lesson In Sherwood Combat,

I've Been Given A Choice --

Archery Or Sword Fighting.

Let's Do The Arrows.

Despite Having Spent His Life As Robin Hood,

Ade Isn't The Best Shot In His Bunch.

His Friend Wolf Is Going To Teach Me The Art Of The Longbow.

This Is The Type Of Bow That Generally Would Have Been

Used In That Period?Very Similar.

This Looks Quite A Bit Bigger Than A Modern Bow.

The Length Has It's Purpose,

It Doesn't Have To Draw Back As Far.

You Can't Hold Them At Full Draw For Very Long

At All, 'Cause They Will Snap.

That's Sort Of In The Movies What We See.

The Whole Army Draws Back...

-Yes. -Hold...

-Yes. -Hold...

Yes, And That's Wrong.

My Dreams Are Getting Crushed Today.

Friar, Do You Have Any Booze On You?

Come Back Later Tonight, We'll Sort Something Out For You.

Okay, Perfect.

Archery Is Very Simple.

You Focus On Your Target,

You Draw It To A Point Of Anchor On Your Face.

Come On.

Have He Alerted Everybody In This Area Of The Forest.

Children, Families, Squirrels, Anybody?

When You're Ready. Release The Arrow.

That Was A Nice, Clean Shot.

It Came Out Of The Bow Nice And Quiet.

Thank You. Thank You.

You're Very Polite Band Of Outlaws.

You're On The Board.

I'm On The Board.

Come On.

A Little High.

Brian, How You Feeling, Standing Right There?

Relatively Safe?

I Got This. I Got This.

[Bleep]

Oh, Sorry, Friar.

You're Forgiven, My Son.

I Love This Guy.

It's Not Easy.

No, It's A Simple Process, But Not Necessarily Easy.

And So I Certainly Have A Feel For How Difficult

It Would Have Been To Be An Outlaw

Out In These Woods.

But Do You Think That Robin Hood Was A Real Man?

The Background To The Story Is All True.

Gates: By Apprenticing With Ade, I've Been Able To Verify

That The Geography Of Robin Hood's Stomping Grounds

And The Weapons Of The Day Both Align Closely With The Legends.

Having Gained A Better Understanding

Of The Realities Of Outlaw Life,

I See Now That It Isn't Nearly As Romantic

As The Hollywood Version Of The Legend.

But In Terms Of Identifying An Actual Man,

I Have No Names And No Body.

But All That May Be About To Change.

I'm Driving North Into Yorkshire

To Investigate One Of The Most Compelling Leads In The Case.

Kirklees Priory May Have Something That No Other Place

In England Claims To Have --

Robin Hood's Grave.

This Is Private Land,

And I'm Lucky To Have Been Given Access

By Historian David Hepworth.

Kirklees Is Mentioned By Name In The Very Last Robin Hood Story.

According To The Legend, This Is Where Robin Hood Died.

Gates: Robin Hood Comes Here, Why?

She's The Head Of The Nunnery? Okay.

The Ballads Say A Wounded Robin Hood

Is Brought To The Priory For Medical Care.

His Cousin, The Prioress, Treats Him By Bleeding Him,

A Common Medical Practice Of The Time.

But She Goes Too Far And Soon Robin Hood Is Dying.

And So What's The Final End Of All This?

So If The Story Is True, Somewhere On This Property,

Robin Hood Is Buried.

Yeah.

Okay, So Where?

As Rain Begins To Fall Over Kirklees,

David And I Make Our Way Up A Tree-Lined Path

To A Clearing That Seems Like It's From A Children's Book.

There, Under The Oak Trees,

Stands The Crumbling Grave Of Robin Hood.

This Is Amazing.

Here, Underneath This Little Stone...

So How Long Has This Been Here?

So This Was Built 400 Or 500 Years

After Robin Hood's Death, Right?

And Has The Gave Ever Been Fully Excavated?

No.

-Never? -Never.

Despite This Being A Hotly Contested

And Totally Possible Final Resting Place For Robin Hood,

The Previous Estate Owners Never Consented To An Investigation.

But New Owners Now Want The Question Settled.

Determined To Solve The Mystery

And With Unprecedented Access To The Grave.

We Call In Thomas Graut-Javes...

-Tom. -Hello.

Hey, I'm Josh.

...And His Miraculous Ground-Penetrating Radar.

Gpr Uses Pulses Of Sound To Look Underground

Without The Trouble And Potential Damage Of Excavation.

So, Tom, Walk Me Through What We Are Seeing Up Here.

Okay. So The Smaller Spikes You Can See Are Tree Roots.

If You Were Looking For Something Like A Grave,

You'd Look For A Big Disturbance.

It Would Be A Lot More Clear.

Gates: We Begin By Scanning The Perimeter Of The Grave,

Checking For Any Other Ground Disturbances

That Might Indicate A Larger Grave Yard On The Site.

All Right. Tom, Where Are We At?

Um, There's Nothing Really.

It Is As Clean As It Could Be Down There, It Looks Like.

Yep, Just Tree Roots, Nothing Substantial At All.

Gates: The Scanning Is Tedious,

But The Prospect Of Confirming The Location

Of Robin Hood's Body Is Beyond Exciting.

I Literally Can't Wait To Scan This Grave.

Now Are We Okay To Go Inside?

Yeah.

We Drag The Gpr Unit Over The Wall And I Get To Work.

[ Gpr Pulsing ]

Oh, Got Something.

Got Something.

We Got Something Here.

Gates: At Kirklees Priory In England,

Historian David Hepworth And I Are Using

Ground-Penetrating Radar To Determine If The Grave Here,

That Bares The Name Of Robin Hood,

Actually Contains His Body.

This Monument Has Been Here For Over 300 Years,

But Only Now For The First Time, Has Anyone Scanned The Grave.

We're About To Finally Know.

Is Robin Hood Buried Here?

Oh, Got Something. Got Something.

-Yeah? -Yeah?

Yeah, There's Definitely A Layer Down Here.

It's Really Distinct. Here Tom, David, Look At This.

What Is That?

There's A Clear Disturbance In The Ground There.

There's Definitely Something Down There.

What I'm Looking At Dave? Kind Of A Black Layer Here?

It's Not Particularly Large.

It Could Be A Rock Under The Ground Or...

Robin Hood?

Well, No -- Well...

Tom. Tom. Be Hopeful, Tom.

I Would Describe It As An Anomaly.

The Ground Above It Is Un-Disturbed.

If It Were To Be A Grave,

The Top Would Have Been Disturbed.

Are You Saying You Don't Think The Soil Has Been Tuned Over?

No, It Hasn't, At All.

So I Guess The Real Question Is, Is Anybody Buried Here?

No.

It Would Be Clearer. -Wow.

Gates: You Can Amend The History Books.

The Monument, His Gravestone, All False Leads.

This Is A Big Deal, I Mean It Does Settle This Grave Site.

There Has Always Been This Question,

Did This Grave Contain Bodies.

Now We've Got Firm Evidence -- Nothing Here.

So That Means The Hunt Continues.

It Continues.

Gates: With No Body In The Grave With His Name On It,

Could Robin Hood Be Buried Somewhere Else At Kirklees?

David And I Return To The Priory To Continue Our Investigation.

David Has An Incomplete Estate Map From The 15Th Century

That May Help Us Locate The Building Where Robin Hood

Fired An Arrow To Choose His Final Resting Place.

How Many Buildings Would Have Been In Here, Do You Think?

-About 20. -And Today, How Many Are There?

Uh, Three To Four.

For Your Money, Where Do You Think That Arrow Shot

Could Have Happened From?

I Think It Had To Have Happened In The Enclosure

Of The Nunnery, Itself.

Is That Where A Sick Person Would Have Been Taken?

Yeah, What Would Be Helpful Is To Be To Get An Aerial

So That You Could Look At The Buildings That Exist Now.

Look At The Buildings On The Oldest Maps.

And Collate The Data Together.

Okay, Well Now We Just Need A Plane.

Well, There Are A Few People

That Have Got Planes Around Here,

But You're Gonna Have To Accept That It's A Bone-Shaker.

-A Bone-Shaker? -Yeah.

A Bone-Shaker.

This A Bone-Shaker.

A World War Ii-Era Tiger Moth

That Was Once Part Of The Most Valiant Fleet In The Air,

The Royal Air Force.

The Plane Comes With A Pilot

Who Also Appears To Be World War Ii Vintage.

This Is Amazing.

She's An Absolute Beauty, Isn't She?

Yeah. I'm Talking About The Mustache.

Why, Thank You Very Much.

And I Have Some Amazing News For You.

-Huh? -The War Is Over, We've Won.

With The Open Cockpit, I Can Scout Kirklees Priory.

And Photograph And Tag The Buildings With Gps

To Create A Precise Map Of The Site.

♪♪

This Aircraft Is Living History.

And To Soar Over Britain In One Of The Planes

That Helped To Win World War Ii

Is Just About The Most Thrilling Thing I Have Ever Experienced.

As We Approach The Airspace Over Kirklees,

We Begin To Photograph And Scan The Site From Above.

With Exact Readings,

We Should Be Able To Overlay The Ruins Detected Today

With David's Old Site Plan.

To Make An Accurate Picture Of The Priory

As It Appeared In Robin Hood's Time.

♪♪

♪♪

Whew!

I'm Never Getting Out Of This Plane.

I'm Literally Sewn Into This Plane.

With My Bones Thoroughly Shaken,

I Return To Kirklees With A New Chart

Based On The Gps Coordinates That I Took From The Air.

David Has Brought In An Expert Archer To Help Us

Recreate On Of The Most Famous Arrow Shots In History.

I'm Josh. -Rob.

-Robin? -Robert.

Damn.

So Close.

So We Got Up In The Plane, We've Got Some Better Data Now.

And We've Gps Markered So That We Can Get Our Distances

A Bit More Exact.

Where Do You Think That Arrow

Could Have Been Fired From, The Most Likely Place?

The Most Likely Place Is Down In That Area, There.

Because You've Got Water Inlet.

So For A Guy Receiving Medical Treatment.

Fairly Essential.

Gates: Our Scans Are Able To Recreate The Layout Of Kirklees

As It Would Have Appeared To Robin Hood.

Based On The Layout And Proximity To Fresh Water,

David Believes This Structure Is The Most Likely Spot

For The Hospital Where Robin Lay Dying.

Here's The Plan -- Rob, Our Longbow Archer,

Will Short Form The Exact Spot We Think Robin Would Have Fired.

Well Use His Arrows To Establish A Radius

For Where Robin's Arrow Might Have Have Fallen.

And Then We'll Scan The Radius With Ground-Penetrating Radar,

Hopefully Giving Us A Chance

At Finding The Long-Lost Grave Of Robin Hood.

♪♪

Whew!

All Right, Last One, Here We Go.

You're Getting High Marks From Us.

All Right, Great. So, Let's Go.

Let's Find Some Arrows.

Hand-Held Gps Gives Us Precise Distances

On All Of Rob's Arrows.

Arrow One.

283. Pretty Good.

It's All Right.

310.

462.

You're Getting Better.

Last One -- 671.

That's Lethal.

With The Farthest Arrow Reaching 600 Feet.

And The Shortest Arrow At Only 200 Feet.

We Have A 400-Foot Diameter To Search Around The Firing Site.

We Link Back Up With Tom

And Once Again Unleash The Ground-Penetrating Radar

To Begin The Scan.

We've Identified This Kind Of Doughnut Shape Of Space

That We Need To Scan.

We'll Be Relying On You

Of Interpret The Screen, Of Course.

Sound Good? -Yeah, Brilliant.

All Right. Let's Get Cracking.

-Uh-Huh. -Okay.

After Hours Of Scanning,

We Find No Evidence Of A Ground Disturbance In This Area.

But The Absence Of Evidence Here Is Significant.

With The Marked Grave

Turning Out To Be No Grave At All,

And With No Other Burials In The The Search Diameter,

Kirklees Has Faded As The Site Of The Real Robin Hood's Burial.

But What Is Robin Hood Was Buried Somewhere Else

Under A Different Name?

A Monumental New Theory Suggests That Man Behind The Legends

Might Not Be The Man We've Assumed

And He Might Not Be The Hero We've Always Hoped For.

In A Lonely Church Yard Near Loxley,

I Find Robert White, Another Robin Hood Aficionado.

But One With A Theory About His True Identity

That Could Completely Up-End The Robin Hood Legend.

This Is Loxley?

It Is, That's Right.

You're A Member Of The...

World Wide Robin Hood Society.

As You Know, I'm Trying To Separate The Legend

Of Robin Hood From The History Of Robin Hood.

-Yes? -So How Does That Bring Us Here?

Because One Of The Contenders

Is Reputedly Buried Here, Under This Stone.

So Robin Hood Could Be Right Here?

He Could Be Right There.

Gates: In A Quiet English Church Yard,

Historian Robert White And I Are Standing Above The Grave

Of A Man Who Could Be The Real-Life Inspiration

For The Robin Hood Legend.

Right Here? -Right There.

-Who's That? -Roger Godberd.

Roger Godberd?

And Godberd, He Was A Real Man?

He Was A Real Man, Yes.

Roger Godberd Was A Convicted Arsonist, Burglar, And Murderer.

There Aren't Many Stories

Where I Could Imagine Him Being The Good Guy.

His Story And Elements Of The Robin Hood Story

Fit Quite Nicely.

He Was In Sherwood Forest In The Right Period Of History.

He Also Was An Outlaw From This Particular Village Of Loxley.

He Was Even Captured By The Sheriff Of Nottingham

At One Point And Taken To Nottingham Castle.

To Tie The Thing Even More Closely

With The Robin Hood Legend,

The Records From This Church Show That This Gravestone

May Well Have Been Moved From A Place Called Kirklees Priory.

That's The Place Where Robin Hood Actually Died.

Right, Yeah, We Were Just There.

Where He Fired His Last Arrow And Consequently,

There Is A Grave Site There.

And This Stone Was Reputedly Moved From There.

And In The 16Th Century,

Someone Drew What The Grave Stone Was Like

And It Bears A Remarkable Resemblance

To The One We've Got Here.

So, Robin Hood Could Be Right Here?

-He Could Be. -Wow.

So If Robin Did Die At Kirklees,

He May Have Been Buried There,

But Then They Moved The Grave Here.

Now Did They Move The Stone, Or The Stone And The Body?

Oh, We Don't Know At The Moment.

So That's The Mystery, Then.

Yes, That's The Mystery.

And I Take It That Excavating Here Is Probably Not An Option.

No, It's Not, No.

It's Sacred Ground.

It Would Be Wrong To Disturb It.

So What We're Really Going To Do Is Scan This Area

And Find Out Once And For All Is There Something In This Grave?

Once Again, I'm Bearing Witness To A World First.

This Is The First Time That Robert And The Society

Have Been Granted Permission To Scan The Grave.

And We're Using A Device Known As A Ferro Scanner To Do It.

Am I Safe To Be Holding This? -Oh, Yes.

-I'm Okay To Have Children? -You Are.

Okay. Here We Go.

Scanning Starting Now.

A Ferro Scanner Detects Iron-Based Materials Underground.

If Robin Was Indeed Buried With His Spear, Bow, And Arrows

As The Legend Says, This Scanner Will Detect It.

It Should Also Tell Us If There's A Burial Here

Or Just The Stone Moved From Kirklees Priory.

All Right, Well.

Whoo. That's A Lot Of It.

I Think You Had The Better Deal Up Here.

Oh, Definitely, Without A Doubt.

Now I'll Import The Data Onto Here.

And We'll Have A Look And See What We've Got.

So What Am I Looking For, Here? A Guy Holding A Bow.

What We're Now Looking For Any Indications Underneath

As We Move Across From Left To Right.

This Up Here Is Just Kind Of The Stone On Top.

Is That Was I'm Seeing There? -Yeah.

So I'm Looking At A Profile View?

-That's Right. -Okay, I Got It.

Nothing Yet Down There.

No, Nothing Only Just --

Oh! Look At That!Oh, Oh!

Loot At That Right There!

-Crikey. -There's Something Down There.

That's Really Significant.

Bob, There's Something Down There.

There Is, Absolutely.

That's Amazing.

I Mean That Is As Clear As The Stone Above.

It's A Clear, Solid Object There.

It Could Be A Burial.

It Could Be A Burial. That's Right.

How Cool Is It To Be The First People

To Look Under This Grave In Hundreds Of Years.

That's Quite Something.

-Isn't It? -Absolutely.

We've Hit Pay Dirt.

This Is An Occupied Grave.

Confirming That This Is Godberd Will Take Future Dna Analysis.

But There Is A Distinct Possibility

That We Are Standing On The Grave Of Robin Hood.

So It Could Be That The Legend Leads Right Here?

Yeah. We May Well Be Looking At Robin Hood Himself.

That's Amazing.

My Travels Have Carried Me Across England

Chasing Down The Many Sights And Stories

Associated With The Robin Hood Legend.

I Languished In The The Dungeons Of Nottingham Castle,

Soared Over The British Countryside,

And Fired Arrows With The Merry Men Of Sherwood Forest.

I've Recreated Robin's Final Moments

And Searched Underground For His Remains.

I've Even Explored The Possibility

That The Greatest Hero Of The English Language

May In Fact Be The Villain Of His Own Story.

I've Been Able To Confirm That Many Of The Important Elements

Of The Robin Hood Ballads

Are Not Only Possible But Almost Certainly True.

But Was Robin Hood A Flesh-And-Blood Man?

The Events Of His Day Seem Too Clearly Reflected In The Ballads

To Be Pure Fiction.

Perhaps There Was A Little Of Godberd In Him,

Along With Dozens Of Other Bandits That Roamed The Forests.

And Though They Were Important

In Forming The Robin Hood Legend,

The Most Important Authors Of His Story

Have Been You And Me.

His Story May Have Begun In The 12Th Century,

But It Continues To Grow Today,

With Robin Always Becoming What We Need Him To Be.

And No Matter What Lies Ahead, We Can Rest Assured

That Robin Hood Will Be There To Save Us.