Robin Hood's Well (Stanbury)

Locality
Coordinates	Near 53.822967, -2.033383
Adm. div.	West Riding of Yorkshire
Vicinity	3.5 km WSW of Stanbury
Type	Natural feature
Interest	Robin Hood name
Status	Extant
First Record	1852

Robin Hood's Well or one of the two neighbouring springs (from: Sutcliffe; artist George Hering).

Robin Hood's Well / Paul Bennett at the Northern Antiquary.

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Approximate location of Robin Hood's Well.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-08-04. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2017-05-08.

"Robin Hood Well" is listed by A.H. Smith under the parish of Stanbury. According to Paul Bennett, this little natural well high on Stanbury Moor is first mentioned in 1852. It was noted in passing by J. Horsfall Turner in 1879 and by Johnnie Gray in 1891 (see Allusions below). Sutcliffe in 1899 gave a brief description of this spring and its neighbours Little John's Well and Will Scarlet's Well (see Allusions below), noting that they were "[h]alf-hidden underground, and fringed with fern and bog-weed". Paul Bennett has noted quite recently that Robin Hood's Well is "little more than a small boggy spring of water emerging from the edge of the ridge", whereas Sutcliffe wondered who constructed the wells and his account is accompanied by illustrations by George Hering which clearly show near each well a rock or two that could have been placed there by someone, though this could hardly be regarded as construction work.

Allusions

Gazetteers

• Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), p. 311 (2nd item).

Sources

• Gray, Johnnie. Through Airedale from Goole to Malham (Leeds; Bradford; Skipton; Goole, 1891), p. 189.
• Northern Antiquary: Robin Hood’s Well, Stanbury Moor, West Yorkshire.
• Smith, A.H. The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire (English Place-Name Society, vols. XXX-XXXVII) (Cambridge, 1961-63), pt. III, p. 270.
• Sutcliffe, Halliwell. By Moor and Fell: Landscapes and Lang-Settle Lore from West Yorkshire (London, 1899).

Also see

• Stanbury place-name cluster
• Places named Robin Hood's Well.

Notes

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