Robin Hood's Well (Helsington)
By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2016-08-17. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2019-04-05.
Robin Hood's Well is or was located at the southern end of an arm of Low Bank Wood that stretches north along the west bank of River Kent. It was situated at a point approximately equidistant from Helsington, Natland, and Sedgwick. About 375 m NNE of the well is found Robin Hood's Island, a small wooded rock in River Kent, and immediately SE of the island on the east bank of the river is Robin Hood's Wood. The well is first recorded on 6" O.S. map Lancashire IX, published 1851-63, but based on surveying carried out 1847-58 (see Maps section below). It is not found on later 6" O.S. maps of the area that are online at NLS.
A small island in a river may have appealed to a child's imagination, and perhaps these three localities were named by children playing in this area? This place-name does not appear to have been listed or discussed in previous works on the Robin Hood tradition. Template:PnItemQry
Gazetteers
- Not included in Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976).
Maps
- 6" O.S. map Lancashire IX (1851-63; surveyed 1847-58)
- 6" O.S. map Westmorland XLII (1862; surveyed 1858)
- 6" O.S. map Westmorland XLII.NE (1899; rev. 1896-97)
- 6" O.S. map Westmorland XLII.NE (1920; rev. 1912) (well not labelled).