Robin Hood's Well (Knutsford)
Locality | |
---|---|
Coordinate | 53.3048, -2.3722 |
Adm. div. | Cheshire |
Vicinity | In Knutsford, Nether Knutsford Ward, mear the NE end of Malt Street |
Type | Natural feature |
Interest | Robin Hood name |
Status | Defunct |
First Record | 1882 |
By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2017-01-19. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2021-01-17.
Robin Hood's Well in Nether Knutsford, one of the four wards of Knutsford, Cheshire, is listed on 6" O.S. maps of the area dated 1882 and 1899 (see Maps section below). Very close to this locality was a Robin Hood's Cottage. I have not been able to establish the exact location of either from the maps, but this would have been somewhere near the NE end of Malt Street, perhaps in the area known as the Moor.[1] Robin Hood's Well may have been a spring or a well with some kind of cover or well-house, but again this cannot be determined from the maps. The place-name is most likely defunct, as is probably that of the Cottage, for I found no mention of either on the world wide web on 19 Janaury 2017.
Allusions
1859 - Green, Henry - Knutsford
The name Robin Hood's Well, a locality near the Moor, suggests that the great outlaw and freebooter of Sherwood Forest had wandered to our town; we read the motto over the well,
"If Robin Hood be not at home,
Stop and take a drink with little John;"
[p. 131:] and we imagine his favourite attendant must have been concealed close at hand. But, alas! for our antiquarian excitement; just by is a neatly enclosed mound, and a stone engraved with the words, "Alas! poor Bob!" We enquire what it all means, and learn, almost to our vexation, that Robin Hood was the name of a race-horse buried under the mound, and that little John's drink was not the pure element—"that best of liquors," but like Friar Tuck's,—a flagon of strong ale.[2]
Gazetteers
- Not included in Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), pp. 293-311.
Sources
- Dodgson, John McN.; Rumble, Alexander R. The Place-Names of Cheshire, pts. I-V (English Place-Name Society, vols. XLIV-XLVIII, LIV, LXXIV) (Cambridge, 1970-72; [s.l.], 1981; Nottingham, 1997), vol. II, p. 75; vol. V, pt. 1:ii, p. 419, may refer to this locality, but he cites no source, date or location.
Maps
- 6" O.S. map Cheshire XXVII (1882; surveyed 1872-76)
- 6" O.S. map Cheshire XXVII (1899; rev. 1897) (georeferenced)
- 6" O.S. map Cheshire XXVII (1911; rev. 1908)
- 6" O.S. map Cheshire XXVII (c. 1931; rev. 1908)
- 6" O.S. map Cheshire XXVII (c. 1936; rev. 1908)
- 6" O.S. map Cheshire XXVII (c. 1947; rev. 1938).
Gazetteers
- Dodgson, John McN.; Rumble, Alexander R. The Place-Names of Cheshire, pts. I-V (English Place-Name Society, vols. XLIV-XLVIII, LIV, LXXIV) (Cambridge, 1970-72; [s.l.], 1981; Nottingham, 1997), vol. V, pt. 1:ii, p. 419, may refer to this locality, but he cites no source, date or location.
Background
Also see
Notes
- ↑ Dodgson, John McN.; Rumble, Alexander R. The Place-Names of Cheshire, pts. I-V (English Place-Name Society, vols. XLIV-XLVIII, LIV, LXXIV) (Cambridge, 1970-72; [s.l.], 1981; Nottingham, 1997), vol. V, pt. 1:ii, p. 419, may refer to this locality, but he cites no source, date or location.
- ↑ Green, Henry. Knutsford, its Traditions and History: with Reminiscences, Anecdotes, and Notices of the Neighbourhood (London; Macclesfield; Knutsford, 1859), pp. 130-31.