Robin Hood Prince of Thieves Aysgarth Falls

Whilst other girls were swooning over Prince Charming and Eric from their favourite Disney movies, I found myself a little bit in love with a small orange fox called Robin Hood, and have admittedly been obsessed with the character ever since.

No, but in all honesty, I don’t think there has been a single Robin Hood movie that I haven’t loved, and my absolute favourite is probably the 1991 version – Prince of Thieves – starring Kevin Costner.

When I found out I was heading up to Yorkshire to visit family, I put Aysgarth Falls to the top of my list of things to see. Why? Because some of the movie was filmed there.

Can you remember the scene where Robin Hood has to take on Little John to be able to cross a river? They battle it out mid-stream, and both end up pushing each other off the falls. Well that’s Aysgrath.

On our first full day in the county, I convinced my mum to drive us up through the Yorkshire Dales, towards the waterfall in Wenslydale – yes, like the cheese.

It was absolute hell getting there – the Dales are full of these tiny, winding tracks that climb up steep mountain sides and it is terrifying. Still, we eventually made it, in one piece, and pulled into a car park not far from the falls.

You can see Aysgarth Falls pretty well from the bridge crossing the River Ure, but we wanted to get a better view – and I wanted to see the exact location Costner fell – so we went on a little hike to the very top.

The triple tierd waterfall really was quite spectacular. Gallons of water cascaded down over the limestone steps making a deafening sound, while famalies sat relaxed in a nearby field eating picnic food.

I must have taken hundreds of photos, trying to find the exact locations used to shoot the film. Annoyingly, some of the scenes were shot from the other side of the river, which you can’t actually get to, but I still left pretty happy with what I had seen.

Have you seen Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves before? Do you remember the scene I’m talking about? Have you ever visited a film set before? Where do you think I should head to next?

Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves location: ‘Locksley Castle’ – before the attack: Wardour Castle, Wiltshire

Kevin Reynolds’ hyperactive extravaganza, famously using locations all over the UK, kicks off with Robin (Kevin Costner) arriving home from the Crusades on a beach overlooked by gleaming white cliffs. And where better than the Seven Sisters, on the East Sussex coast west of Eastbourne toward Cuckmore Haven? You can access the clifftop path from car parks at Exceat Barn and Birling Gap, or view the Sisters from Seaford Head. The same stretch of coast is seen again in Atonement.

From the coast, Robin’s trek north to his ‘Nottingham’ home (in central England) overshoots a little, to Northumberland, in fact. In no time at all, he’s giving directions to Azeem (Morgan Freeman) at Sycamore Gap, on Hadrian's Wall near to Housesteads Roman Fort. Now a World Heritage Site, Hadrian's Wall was built across the north of England by Roman invaders, to keep Picts (from modern-day Scotland) from raiding the northern outpost of their empire. Housesteads is on the B6318 about 25 miles west of Newcastle-on-Tyne (rail: Bardon Mill, 3 miles).

Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves location: ‘Locksley Castle’ – after the attack: Wardour Castle, Wiltshire

But it’s soon back south, to Wiltshire, for the ruin of ‘Locksley Castle’, Robin’s family home, which turns out to be Old Wardour Castle, off the A30, between Salisbury and Shaftesbury.

Wardour’s great advantage for the movie is that part of it was severely damaged during the Civil War and, depending on the angle from which it’s it’s seen, it can appear intact or totally wrecked.

Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves location: Robin fights Little John: Aysgarth Falls, North Yorkshire | Photograph: iStockphoto © Ron Strickland

Then north again, to North Yorkshire. The river, where Robin fights with Little John, is Aysgarth Falls, a series of broad limestone steps on the River Ure at Aysgarth, on the A684 about 25 miles west of Northallerton in the Pennines. The falls is also featured in the 1992 film of Wuthering Heights.

Robin Hood’s ‘Sherwood Forest’ camp was built closer to the film studio at Shepperton, about 50 yards from a public footpath in Burnham Beeches, off the A335, north of Slough, Buckinghamshire.

Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves location: ‘Nottingham Castle’: Church of St Bartholomew, Smithfield, London EC1

Maid Marion (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) keeps her distance, though, at Hulne Priory, the ruins of a 13th century Carmelite monastery in Hulne Park, northwest of Alnwick on the A1 in Northumberland.

Close by is Alnwick Castle. The piggily villainous Bishop of Hereford (Harold Innocent) is popped out of the window to land in the courtyard of 12th century castle. Alnwick Castle is, of course, most famous for its appearance as ‘Hogwarts’ in the first Harry Potter films.

Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves location: ‘Nottingham Castle’: Carcassonne, France

‘Nottingham Castle square’ sat on the backlot at Shepperton Studio, though the castle itself – in longshot – is the fortified city of Carcassonne down in the south of France close to the Spanish border (the town is also seen in The Bride, Franc Roddam’s 1985 spin on The Bride of Frankenstein).

The interior of ‘Nottingham Cathedral’ is the Priory Church of St Bartholomew The Great, Smithfield, a small church – repository of the bones of St Rahere – tucked away behind Smithfield, London EC1, and frequently seen in films, including Four Weddings and a Funeral; Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes; Neil Jordan’s The End Of The Affair; Shakespeare in Love; The Other Boleyn Girl; and Elizabeth, The Golden Age.

Was Robin Hood filmed at Aysgarth Falls?

Where is the waterfall scene in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves?

What has been filmed at Aysgarth Falls?

Which town was it in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves?