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Robin Hood used to be regarded as a mere wives' tale. But that changed in the minds of some archeologists when, in 2002, they accidentaly discovered a long-forgotten tunnel leading from Nottingham jail to nearby St. Mary's church. No one would have predicted it, or would they?
Hunderds of years back, records at that same church speak of the famous outlaw once being trapped there by the sheriff and escaping through the tunnels to the last place anyone would have looked for him: Nottingham prison. (for those who heard me mention this before in the shoutbox, my mistake. I got it backwards) The experts who discovered the tunnel say it dates to right around the same time as the legends!
News article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2198224.stm

This got me thinking, how many times has a legend been backed up by hard evidence? Does anyone else think this is interesting, or know of other cases? Robin Hood legends are preferred, but others are welcome. Please cite sources if possible.

I don't know too much about the robin hood legend... but this is very interesting indeed, perhaps there could have been a robin hood.

There are a number of possibilities. Some people say Robin Hood's exploits were a combination of events from other, now-forgotten outlaws, which would fit with the presence of hard evidence. On the other hand, if that were true in this case, then one would expect a different name in the records. It's possible that he was credited with exploits not his own after the fact, but if the records were made at the time of the event, I think it's safe to say of this case that yes, Robin Hood was there.