Friar Tuck's Well (Blidworth)

Locality
Coordinate	53.1059, -1.1512
Adm. div.	Nottinghamshire
Vicinity	2.2 km NW of Blidworth
Type	Natural feature
Interest	Robin Hood name
Status	Extant
First Record	1885

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Friar Tuck's Well, immediately NE of Fountain Dale, another Robin Hood-related locality.

Friar Tuck's Well / Antony Dixon, 27 Dec. 2011, Creative Commons, via Geograph.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2016-10-05. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2021-01-07. Photos and comments courtesy Rich.

Friar Tuck's Well is situated on the east of Fountain Dale. This chalybeate spring once was surrounded by a low wall and an ornate iron railing; the water emerged from a pipe, traces of which can still be discerned as a dark patch close to the top of Antony Dixon's photo below, and trickled down the "stairs" seen in the centre of the photo. Its waters were believed to possess medicinal properties. The well is now overgrown, the immediate surroundings boggy and the stonework broken.

IRHB user Rich visited the locality in mid-September of 2020 and mailed me a photo with some comments. Such contributions are always received with thanks. You can contact IRHB via the form on th eContactpage. You can see Rich's photo in the gallery below. Here are his comments:

I was having a ride down Fountain Dale near Blidworth earlier today and stopped off to see if I could find Friar Tuck's Well. I've been down that way before so I had a rough idea where to look. There wasn't much to see – even less than what I remember from the last visit I made, and it looks like there's been some improvements to the dam next to the well which may have affected it. I've attached a photo of what I could see – not much – but it might give others looking an idea of what to expect.

Gazetteers

• Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), p. 302, s.n. 'Friar Tuck's Well'.

Sources

• Geograph: SK5656: 'Friar Tuck's Well' by Antony Dixon
• HolyAndHealingWells: 'Perhaps not so jolly old
• HolyAndHealingWells:: 'Friar Tuck’s Well…new…well actually old photos', by pixyledpublications'.

Maps

• 25" O.S. map Nottinghamshire XXVIII.10 (1885; surveyed 1884)
• 25" O.S. map Nottinghamshire XXVIII.10 (1900; rev. 1897)
• 25" O.S. map Nottinghamshire XXVIII.10 (1900; rev. 1897) (georeferenced)
• 25" O.S. map Nottinghamshire XXVIII.10 (1915; rev. 1913)
• 6" O.S. map Nottinghamshire XXVIII.SW (1885; surveyed 1877-83)
• 6" O.S. map Nottinghamshire XXVIII.SW (1900; rev. 1897–98) (georeferenced)
• 6" O.S. map Nottinghamshire XXVIII.SW (1900; rev. 1897-98)
• 6" O.S. map Nottinghamshire XXVIII.SW (1920; rev. 1913)
• 6" O.S. map Nottinghamshire XXVIII.SW (1939; rev. c. 1949).

Background

• Nottingham Wayfarers' Rambling Club; Price, Roland, introd. The Robin Hood Walks: A Comprehensive Guide to Walks in Robin Hood Country including the Third Edition of the Guide to the Full Route of Nottinghamshire's First Recreational Footpath, The Robin Hood Way (Leicester: Cordee, ©1994); Friar Tuck's Well and/or Fountaindale: pp. 41, 42, 43, 44 (map), 98, 114, 117 (map)
• UK Wanderings: Fountain Dale and Blidworth.

Also see

• Fountain Dale place-name cluster
• Places named after Friar Tuck.

Notes

Image gallery

Click any image to display it in the lightbox, where you can navigate between images by clicking in the right or left side of the current image.

• 

  Friar Tuck's Well / Antony Dixon, 27 Dec. 2011, Creative Commons, via Geograph.

• 

  The well is in a sorry state / 'pixyledpublications'.

• 

  Near the well. See text / Courtesy Rich, 12 Sep. 2020

 Nottinghamshire place-names 

 Place-names