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In the modern Robin Hood tradition - 'modern' in the sense it is dated to the 15th Century - this man-made cave held a horse for Robin Hood to use to gallop up and down the old main road through Sherwood, The King's Great Way.

Errol Flynn and Kevin Costner portraying Robin Hood both ride horses in the feature films but in the old Robin Hood ballads it isn't something you ever hear or read about.

It has just become the medieval English equivalent in the feature films as the Hollywood car chase under the terms 'artictic licence and dramatic pace'.

The reality of the cave was that it was once used as a stable but was previously a hermitage probably serving travellers on the old main road, which lies less than a hundred yards away.

Papplewick itself was a major headquarters for the Forest administration; the village, the mill and church were donated to nearby St Mary's Priory in 1172 by Henry II as part of an apology for his part in the murder of Thomas Becket.

Blacke Dickon's tour of Robin Hood's county

Robin Hood expert, Richard Rutherford-Moore in the guise of one of the Sherwood Foresters takes us to Robin Hood's stables.

Blacke Dickon: "In the Robin Hood tradition this is where Robin Hood kept a fast horse to go up and down the King's Great Way - the main highway through Sherwood Forest."