Greenwood Outlaw Legend or History? Detective Pack

A legend-or-history detective pack for ages 8–12 about the greenwood outlaw of the old ballads: sort evidence cards into History, Literature and Tradition, match quotations to the records and books they come from, build a timeline, investigate Sherwood and Kirklees, and finish with a quiz, a certificate and answer keys.

What’s inside:

- Detective briefing: legend, literature or history?

- Mission 1: 16 evidence cards and a sorting mat

- Mission 2: who wrote it? (eight quotations to match to their sources)

- Mission 3: timeline cards and a timeline mat

- Mission 4: two case files, Robin’s forest? (Sherwood and Barnsdale) and the grave at Kirklees

- Mission 5: the detective quiz (10 questions)

- Greenwood Detective certificate

- Answer keys (2 pages)

- Credits, picture credits, licence & sources

Pages: 15 (including cover and credits). Sizes: A4 (210 × 297 mm) and US Letter (8.5 × 11 in), both PDFs included in one zip.

Printing: Print at 100% / actual size on A4 or US Letter. Inside pages use light backgrounds and print well in black and white; covers are dark, so start from page 2 to save ink.

Every statement is labelled History (what records, historians and heritage bodies show), Literature (what a named ballad, play, poem or book says) or Tradition (later beliefs, customs and local stories), and checked against named sources (including A Gest of Robyn Hode and the other ballads in the editions of Francis James Child and Frank Sidgwick, Langland’s Piers Plowman, Howard Pyle’s 1883 book, the Calendar of Patent Rolls (via Reading the Rolls), Historic England, the Derbyshire Historic Environment Record, Nottinghamshire County Council, the RSPB, a historian’s article by Dr Mike Ibeji, and Britannica; checked 30 Oct 2026). The sources are listed on each pack’s credits page. The stories are retold in our own words; the pictures are public domain drawings, prints and photos via Wikimedia Commons. Puzzles, games and layouts are REALLYBYTE’s own work. Not endorsed by any of these organisations, and not connected with any film, TV, game, toy or business that uses the name Robin Hood.

Licence: personal and single-classroom use. You may print as many copies as you need for your own family or your own class, and share it with your class through a password-protected platform. Please don’t resell, re-upload or share it publicly. For school-wide use, please email info@reallybyte.com.

Made by REALLYBYTE, the team behind robin-hood.folklore.im. Questions: info@reallybyte.com

This is a digital download: no physical item will be shipped.