Robin Hood's Well (Penhill, Wensleydale)

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Robin Hood's Well on Penhill. The marker indicates the source of the well.

Red marker positioned near well head / Google Earth.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2017-01-11. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2018-07-12.

A Robin Hood's Well high on the east side of Penhill in Wensleydale is included on the 6" O.S. map of the area published in 1856. The well is a "natural spring [which] emerges from the hillside running over a few small stones at first but then making its way beneath a slab of rock and plunging down the slopes between rough grass and bracken. Just above the well and overshadowing it is a healthy hawthorn tree, the only surviving one on this exposed shoulder of the hill." Dobson & Taylor note it as "[a] well at the source of a hill stream on Melmerby Moor south of Wensleydale".

Gazetteers

• Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), p. 307, s.n. Robin Hood's Well
• Northern Antiquarian: Holy Wells, Healing Springs & Spas.

Sources

• Holy Wells in Yorkshire - 4 by Edna Whelan.

Maps

• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire 67 (1856; surveyed 1854)
• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire 67 (1895; rev. 1891)
• 6" O.S. map Yorkshire LXVII.SE (1914; rev. 1910).

Background

• Wikipedia: Penhill.

Notes