Shropshire’s Robin Hood

Many people are aware of the legend of Robin Hood, however another similar charachter existed in the past of which many people are not aware of. The man’s name in question was Humphrey Kynaston, he was the son of Sir Roger Kynaston of Hordley near Ellesmere and Lady Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Gray, Earl of Ankerville, and Lord of Powys. The family originated in Wales from the Prince’s of Powys, as Humphrey was not expected to inherit the family estates he was given constableship of Middle Castle which had previously belonged to the Le Strange family but had since returned to ownership of the Crown.

Humphrey failed in the upkeep of the castle and it started to fall into disrepair which was hardly suprising as he was expected to keep the castle in good repair out of his own resources, and as he had no means of income the inevitable came to pass.

This was one of the reasons that Humphrey took to robbery and became an outlaw, some say it was due to his riotous living and massive debts, others say that he killed a man in Church Stretton along with two accomplices. Once he had become an outlaw it quite literally meant that he had no rights whatsover and that he was outside the law, any land and property would have been confiscated and he would have had to steal just to stay alive, this is the position that Humphrey would have found himself in in 1491.

On one of Humphreys exploits it is said that he robbed a steward who was carrying rents that had been received on behalf of a gentleman. The lord of the Manor who had had his rent money stolen sent a message to Humphrey that he would be putting up his tenants rents to cover the cost. Humphrey promptly went out and stole the rent collection off another steward to pay back the takings of the first robbery!

By this time he was gaining a reputation and he was forced to flee from the crumbling Middle Castle and he set up home in a sandstone cave above the village of Nesscliffe. The cave is about 6 metres up on the side of a cliff, there are worn sandstone steps leading up to it and at one time there was a wooden staircase leading up to it. The cave has two chambers, the one on the left would have been the smaller whereas the one on the right is about 4square metres, it is said that Humphrey lived in the one room and stabled his horse in the other, it is said that he trained his horse to climb the steps to the cave by whistling it. On the pillar that divides the two rooms can be found an engraving which says HK 1564 this is said to refer to Henry Kynaston and the date that it was engraved, however there is a debate whether this is genuine.