Robin Hood's Well (Nottingham)

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The site of Robin Hood's Well.
Detail of the Sneinton portion of Peter Burgess's retracing of Richard Bankes's (c. ?1609) MS map (PRO MR 1142 pt. 1) / Bankes, Richard; Mastoris, Stephanos, ed.; Groves, Sue, ed. Sherwood Forest in 1609: a Crown Survey (Thoroton Society, Record Series, vol. XL) (Nottingham, 1997), Map 5: Sneinton.
'‘Robin Hood’s Well' (i.e. gamekeeper's house) by Thomas Cooper Moore, 1856 / Art of the Print.
The gamekeeper's house at Robin Hood’s Well / From article by Bob White in Nottingham Post.
Robin Hood’s Well c. 1860 / The Paul Nix Collection; used by permission.
Portrait of James I by Paul van Somer, c. 1620. After a hunt in Sherwood Forest in the summer of 1624 James I and assorted nobility feasted at Robin Hood's Well / Public domain via Mediawiki.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2016-10-15. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2019-04-05.

Robin Hood's Well a.k.a. St Ann's Well was located in the north-eastern neighbourhood of Nottingham now known as St Ann, an area that was once part of Sherwood Forest and retained a bucolic character until the mid-19th century.[1] The well, known by several names, played an important role in Nottingham civic life over the centuries. From the late 1550s on, borough records list expenses relating to a procession of the Mayor and members of the civic administration, wearing their official liveries and accompanied by musicians, to the well for a festive dinner in or outside the adjacent woodward's house.

The history of the well from the mid-16th century to its destruction in the late 19th century is intertwined with that of the woodward's house, so both are treated together here.

Names of the well

The well is perhaps referred to in Nottingham civic records for 1301 as 'The Brodewell', but this is uncertain as this name was also applied to another well.[2]Robin Hood's Well was apparently also known as Owswell during the Middle Ages.[1] From an early date its water was believed to be endowed with curative and restorative powers, and like so many other springs in the medieval period it became a holy well. In 1409 a chapel dedicated to St Ann was built next to it,[1] and by 1577 the well had come to be known as "Sent Anne Well".[3] However, already in 1500 the well was referred to as Robin Hood's Well and in 1578 as 'Robyn Hood Well alias Saynt Anne Well'. The latter is the name under which the well is mentioned in Nottingham civic records from the 17th century on and may thus be regarded as the official name. Yet, according to Nottinghamshire historian Charles Deering, the name 'Robin Hood's Well' could still be heard in the mid-18th century (see Records and 1751 allusion cited below).[4]

Early history of the well

Joe Earp writes in his very readable and informative blog article on St Ann's Well that "[t]he term Well rather than Spring was used to imply that the ʻspring headʼ had been covered or artificially channelled in the remote past".[5] Many native English speakers, I think, now tend to make this distinction between 'spring' and 'well', but applying it to a place-name of medieval origin would be anachronistic. The primary meaning of the noun 'well', recorded since early Old English times, is "[a] spring of water rising to the surface of the earth and forming a small pool or flowing in a stream".[6] The place-name element 'well' therefore does not tell us whether the spring was covered or not.

In 1216, according to Earp, Nottingham was granted for the use of its poorer inhabitants the meat of deer culled in the spring, and the distribution of this developed into an Easter feast at the well, an occasion that was still celebrated in post-Reformation times. From c. 1100 to 1312 the site was 'run' as a holy-well by the Templar 'Brotherhood of Lazarus'. Eventually control of the well was taken over by the monks of Lenton Priory, who dedicated the well to St Ann and, in 1409, built a chapel dedicated to that saint next to it. For all this Earp cites only secondary sources, one of which is quite untrustworthy.[7] I hope further research will reveal if his account can be corroborated by primary sources.

Civic outings 1557–1623

Arguing against the civic procession to the well originating in an early 13th century venison dole-out is the fact that civic records and documents, which survive from the mid-12th century on,[8] do not mention the procession until 1557/58, when a payment to "Maister Byron's Keypers at Seynt Anne Well on Blacke Mondey" (i.e. Easter Monday) is recorded.[9] We may also note that a mid-16th century local writer states explicitly that the custom was begun and kept up in order to support financially the town's woodward who was keeper of the "victualling house" where the festive dinner took place (see anonymous source cited in 1751 Quotation below).

Three entries of payments to named musicians or anonymous town waits for performing en route to the well and at the well are recorded, the latest in 1575/76.[10] Records for 4 Nov. 1577 include the request "that here myghe [i.e. may] be a cover made at Sent Anne Well, as you and youre bretheryn may devise as consernyng, eyther att the Chappell end or at summ place convenyent where you shall thynke good off".[11] This, which probably indicates that there was no well cover before this time, cetainly is proof of continued official interest in keeping up the well. Yet a couple of decades later it is clear that some members of Nottingham's civic elite, whether out of parsimony, penury or some other motive, were less than enthusiastic about the procession-cum-dinner. For civic records for April 1601 include this entry:

Goinge to Saint Ane Well. — Itt ys ordened that the Aldermen, the Councell, and the Cloathinge shall wayte on Maister Maior on Blake Monday yearely to Saint Ane Well, there to spend theyr money with the Keper and Woodward: upon payne of euerye Alderman makinge defalt and not pardoned by the Maior to forfeyt ijs., of the Cloathinge to forfeyt xijd., beinge not pardoned by the Maior. And that euerie of the Aldermen shall spend there with the townes Woodward ijs., and with the Thorney Wodes Keeper att discretion; euerye Counceller, with the townes Wodward xviijd', and with the Keeper in discretion; euerye of the cloathinge to spend with the townes Wodward xijd., and with the Keeper at discretion. And that none of them shall carry or send any provision thither.[12]

On 10 April 1609 it was decided "that the meeting att Saint Ane Well shall hould" and that "the Cownsell and Cloathinge" must "bee there, and [...] sytt togeather according to theyr seniorities, and [...] pay xvjd. a man all alyke"[13] The woodward's house at which the dinners took place was rebuilt 1617/18 to 1619, when the records include entries of expenses on materials and labour. In 1619 a kitchen was built or perhaps rather an existing one rebuilt[14] Also in the latter year expenses were recorded "for wine and suger at the Well on Blake Mundaye".[15] According to the 1751 allusion cited below, the woodward's house, a brick building, was built on the spot where the Chapel of St Ann once stood, one wall of the house being made of stone was "the East Wall of that quondam Chappel [which] supports the East side of the House". He continues: "In the Room of the Altar is now a great Fire-place, over which was found upon a Stone the Date of the building of the Chappel, viz. 1409".

On 23 March 1620/21, "[t]he companie are agreed thatt the former order touchinge the accompaniinge Maister Maior to Saint Anne Well shall stand, and either to goe or pay, or bothe." The latter means, as the editor of the records explains in a note, "that members of the Council are to be fined unless they attend."[16] On 15 April 1622 it was "agred, thatt the antient meetinge att Saint Anne Well shall stand; and this companie haue promised to goe thither on Black Monday nexte, or ells to send theere monies, in regard the poore man makes provisions for them." On 28 March 1623: "Thee metinge on Blacke Monday to hold accordinge to the antient custome, butt with this addicion, thatt Maister Maior, Aldermen and Shreves pay ijs. a peice, and all the Clothinge and Councell present xviijd., and all absent xijd."[17] After this there are no more entries relating to the procession or dinner.[18]

Royal and bourgeois conviviality 1624–1751

It was decided on 21 July 1624 in expectation of James I's visiting the well that "Maister Robert Parker, Maister John James, Maister Alvey, Maister Hopkyn are required to deale with Edward Allsebroke, Maister Kyme, Gabriel Dun, and Maister Callton for theire closes nere the Well to be preserved against the Kinges cominge, and to take order for the fencinge thereof"[19] We do not know whether His Majesty King James I found the surroundings sufficiently tidy, though an anonymous mid-17th century writer was an eye-witness to the "Royal and remarkable Assembly at this Place" when "it pleased our late Sovereign king James, in his Return from Hunting in this Forest, to Honour this Well with his Royal Presence, ushered by that Noble Lord Gilbert Earl of Shrewsbury, and attended by many others of the Nobility, both of the Court and Country, where they drank the Woodward and his Barrels dry" (cited in the 1751 allusion below). Unless this brief account refers to an earlier royal visit that has left no mark on the local records – and this seems unlikely – its author must be mistaken with regard to the Christian name of the Earl of Shrewsbury. Gilbert, 9th Earl of Shrewsbury, died in 1616. The Earl present at the royal visit to the well in 1624 must have been John Talbot, 10th Earl of Shrewsbury (1601-1654).[20]

It may be no more than a coincidence that the royal visit occurred the year after the very last mention of the civic procession to the well. However, a royal visit obviously increased the prestige of the venue – if only for a time and at this date not necessarily in the eyes of all potential customers – and it is conceivable that increased custom made the civic procession-cum-dinner unnecessary. It is clear from the records relating to the event cited above that the annual dinner was an indirect means of civic sponsorship of the woodward's establishment at the well. According to the 1751 allusion cited below, this official was an employee of the mayor's. Perhaps it was decided that the keeper could now do without the city's official sponsorship. The rising tide of Puritanism and individualism swept away many communal customs, perhaps this was one of them.

In all events the nine volumes of published civic records[21] contain no further reference to the dinner at the well after 1623. Yet judging by the 1751 allusion cited below and the anonymous account, about a hundred years older, which is in turn cited in it, it seems clear that business at the woodward's must have been brisk when the weather was fair and on holidays. According to the anonymous mid-17th century writer, the "Victualling House" by the well in addition to the woodward's private habitation included "a Building containing two fair Rooms, an upper and a lower" to which visitors resorted when the weather was inclement. Outside were "fair Summer-Houses, Bowers or Arbours covered by the plashing and interweaving of Oak-Boughs for Shade, in which are Tables of large Oak Planks, and are seated about with Banks of Earth, [...] and covered with green Sods, like green Carsie Cushions." Here visitors would enjoy meals, drink, talk and music in fair weather, the season lasting from March to October. It was a pleasant c. 2 km walk from town to the well. "Thither do the Townsmen resort [...] by an ancient Custom beyond Memory". As is hinted at in one of the records relating to the civic procession cited above, it was possible to bring one's own food or have it sent to be prepared at the woodward's. Townsfolk "use [...] to fetch a walk to this Well, either to dine or sup, or both, some sending their provision to be dressed, others bespeaking what they will have, and when any of the Town have their Friends come to them, they have given them no welcome, unless they entertain them at this Well." Attractions included "Artificial" as well as "Natural Music without Charge; in the Spring by the Nightingale and in the Autumn by the Wood-Lark".

About a hundred years later the situation seems to have been much the same. Visitors could be "entertained with a Concert of Areal Musicians in Nottingham Coppices, or on Mondays and Wednesdays join in Company with those who use the Exercise of Bowling." The well, considered the second coldest in all England, was "frequented by many Persons as a cold Bath". Charles Deering described the well and its surroundings in 1751, noting that to the north of Nottingham, but separated from it by large fields:

[...] are two large Coppices appertaining to Nottingham, and thence called Nottingham Coppices, which formerly were well stored with Oaks and Underwood, one of these, viz. the upper Coppice is cleared and turned into Pasture Land, the lower Coppice is still tolerably well provided with Underwood, neither is it altogether destitute of Timber.

ON the North side of the Town are two Springs, one arises almost at the Foot of the last mentioned Coppice, it is walled in and covered with a Tiled Roof, the waste of it runs in a small Channel through the midst of the Fields [...] The other springs forth about half-way between the Town and the former, it is not quite so large, is also walled about and an Iron dish used to hang by a Chain for Passengers to drink at, the Waste of this, first runs into a Stone Trough, and thence in a small Trench proceeds and falls into the Channel of the former, thus forming one Current they make their way by the side of the Town and cast themselves into the Leen. These springs are of the same use to the Cattle on the North, as the Rivers are on the South side, the other parts of the Fields which are somewhat remote from both, are mostly provided with Wells.[22]

Robin Hood's Well aka St Ann's Well is the first of the two wells described by Deering.

Robin Hood paraphernalia for the great unwashed

An additional attraction at the woodward's was by 1751 (see Allusions section below) a quaint little collection of ostensible Robin Hood paraphernalia:

The People who keep the Green and Public House to promote a Holy-day Trade, shew an old wickered Chair, which they call Robin Hood's Chair, a Bow, and an old Cap, both these they affirm to have been this famous Robber's Property; [...] this little Artifice takes so well with the People in low-Life, that at Christmas, Easter and Whitsuntide, it procures them a great deal of Business, for at those Times great Numbers of young Men bring their Sweethearts to this Well, and give them a Treat, and the Girls think themselves ill-used, if they have not been saluted by their Lovers in Robin Hood's Chair.

It is hardly possible to say how long these objects had been on display at the establishment, but wicker chairs are not the most durable of artifacts, By 1790 only a fragment of R. Hood's Chair was left, while as one would expect, the iron helmet seems to have been in rather better shape (see illustrations). I am not aware that any depiction of the bow exists. According to Bob White, the collection of Robin Hood paraphernalia also included his arrows, boots and bottle.[23] Mr White cites no source for this. In 1827 the collection of Robin Hood paraphernalia was sold at auction to a Lionel Raynor, "a famous actor on the London stage", and "introduced into a melo-drama at one of the London theatres" (see 1840 allusion below). Raynor is said to have offered these items to the British Museum before migrating to the United States. However, the British Museum holds no record of such an offer.[24] If the Robin Hood relics were in fact used for a London show it may be possible to trace their fate further through contemporary newspaper and magazine articles, reviews etc.

Decline at the well

When James Orange visited the well in 1839, "the sylvan bowers [,] the umbrageous glens, and all the gay delights and laughing pleasures of woodland scenery" (see 1840 allusion below) were gone. The former coppice was now arable land. The changed scenery may well have made the fomer woodward's house a less attractive venue for a holiday outing. Perhaps there is also in Deering's account a hint of a change in the demographic composition of the clientele. The young louts "saluting" their girlfriends from Robin Hood's chair sound more like drinkers than diners. At any rate, in 1825 the establishment lost its licence to serve alcohol "[i]n consequence of sabbath breaking, fights and tumults so often happening" (see 1840 allusion below). This must have hit economy hard, for as we have seen, the collection of Robin Hood paraphernalia, though very likely still a drawing card, was auctioned a couple of years later.

In 1840, James Orange noted that "there is a delightful garden and pleasure ground, in which the company are allowed to walk, and there are swings for young people to amuse themselves; but the rarest object of attraction is the ingeniously formed maze cut out in the green sward." Here youngsters who take on the challenge of the Shepherd's Race must "run, or they would fall or tread upon the grassy side, which is to lose the race, and the constant turning and winding about of the path-way awakens the utmost vigilance in the breast of the earnest aspirant of youthful fame." Orange felt, not without some hyperbole, that "[n]o sight is more pretty or engaging than to behold six or eight young girls and boys running at the same moment the varying and seemingly interminable windings of the Shepherd's Race."

All these attractions notwithstanding, after catering to diners and drinkers for centuries the old woodward's 'victualling-house' was out of business a few decades after its licence was withdrawn. Fun without alcohol just isn't the same.[25]

The Age of Steam fills in the well

St. Ann's or Robin Hood's Well was filled up and the site covered by an embankment when a suburban railway was constructed in August of 1887.[26] Template:PnItemQry

Quotations

Deering, Charles. Nottinghamia Vetus et Nova (1751):

IN Section IV: an Account has been given of St. Anne's Well and House, how it was formerly as well as at present, the same Author [of an MS c. 100 years old in Deering's day] tells us,

That by a Custom Time beyond Memory, the Mayor and Aldermen of the Town and their Wives have been used on Monday in Easter Week, Morning Prayers ended, to march from the Town to this Well, having the Town Waits to play before them, and attended by all the Clothing and their Wives, i.e. such as have been Sheriffs, and ever after wear Scarlet Gownes, together with the Officers of the Town, and many other Burgesses and Gentlemen, such as wish well to the Woodward, this Meeting being at first instituted, and since continued for his Benefit.

FORMERLY the Woodward had the House built out of the Ruins of the Chapel allow'd him to live in, who kept a Victualling House there. This Custom is likewise dropt.[27]

Gazetteers

Sources

Discussion

Maps

Background

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Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Nottingham Hidden History Team: St Ann's Well by Joe Earp.
  2. Stevenson, W.H.; Raine, James, transl.; Baker, W.T., ed.; Guilford, E.L., ed.; Gray, Duncan, ed.; Walker, V.W., ed. Records of the Borough of Nottingham, Being a Series of Extracts from the Archives of the Corporation of Nottingham (London; Nottingham, 1882-1956), vol. I, p. 371, item XXX; vol. III, p. 468, s.n. "Brodwell'"; Gover, J.E.B.; Mawer, Allen; Stenton, F.M. The Place-Names of Nottinghamshire (English Place-Name Society, vol. XVII) (Cambridge, 1940), p. 20.
  3. Stevenson, W.H.; Raine, James, transl.; Baker, W.T., ed.; Guilford, E.L., ed.; Gray, Duncan, ed.; Walker, V.W., ed. Records of the Borough of Nottingham, Being a Series of Extracts from the Archives of the Corporation of Nottingham (London; Nottingham, 1882-1956), vol. IV, p. 173.
  4. Also see Stevenson, W.H.; Raine, James, transl.; Baker, W.T., ed.; Guilford, E.L., ed.; Gray, Duncan, ed.; Walker, V.W., ed. Records of the Borough of Nottingham, Being a Series of Extracts from the Archives of the Corporation of Nottingham (London; Nottingham, 1882-1956), vol. III, p. 475, s.n. 'Robynhode Well'; vol. IV, p. 441, s.n. 'Robyn's Wood Well'.
  5. Joe Earp: St Ann's Well (Nottingham Hidden History Team)
  6. [OED, well, n. 1. (subscription required).
  7. Greenwood, David. Robin of St. Ann's Well Road (Nottingham, ©2007).
  8. Stevenson, W.H.; Raine, James, transl.; Baker, W.T., ed.; Guilford, E.L., ed.; Gray, Duncan, ed.; Walker, V.W., ed. Records of the Borough of Nottingham, Being a Series of Extracts from the Archives of the Corporation of Nottingham (London; Nottingham, 1882-1956), vol. I, p. 1.
  9. Stevenson, W.H.; Raine, James, transl.; Baker, W.T., ed.; Guilford, E.L., ed.; Gray, Duncan, ed.; Walker, V.W., ed. Records of the Borough of Nottingham, Being a Series of Extracts from the Archives of the Corporation of Nottingham (London; Nottingham, 1882-1956), vol. IV, p. 114 and n. 1.
  10. Stevenson, W.H.; Raine, James, transl.; Baker, W.T., ed.; Guilford, E.L., ed.; Gray, Duncan, ed.; Walker, V.W., ed. Records of the Borough of Nottingham, Being a Series of Extracts from the Archives of the Corporation of Nottingham (London; Nottingham, 1882-1956), vol. IV, pp. 117, 133, 163.
  11. Stevenson, W.H.; Raine, James, transl.; Baker, W.T., ed.; Guilford, E.L., ed.; Gray, Duncan, ed.; Walker, V.W., ed. Records of the Borough of Nottingham, Being a Series of Extracts from the Archives of the Corporation of Nottingham (London; Nottingham, 1882-1956), vol. IV, p. 173.
  12. Stevenson, W.H.; Raine, James, transl.; Baker, W.T., ed.; Guilford, E.L., ed.; Gray, Duncan, ed.; Walker, V.W., ed. Records of the Borough of Nottingham, Being a Series of Extracts from the Archives of the Corporation of Nottingham (London; Nottingham, 1882-1956), vol. IV, p. 256. Stevenson's note numbers silently omitted from the quotation.
  13. Stevenson, W.H.; Raine, James, transl.; Baker, W.T., ed.; Guilford, E.L., ed.; Gray, Duncan, ed.; Walker, V.W., ed. Records of the Borough of Nottingham, Being a Series of Extracts from the Archives of the Corporation of Nottingham (London; Nottingham, 1882-1956), vol. IV, p. 291. IRHB's brackets.
  14. Stevenson, W.H.; Raine, James, transl.; Baker, W.T., ed.; Guilford, E.L., ed.; Gray, Duncan, ed.; Walker, V.W., ed. Records of the Borough of Nottingham, Being a Series of Extracts from the Archives of the Corporation of Nottingham (London; Nottingham, 1882-1956), vol. IV, pp. 356-57, 359.
  15. Stevenson, W.H.; Raine, James, transl.; Baker, W.T., ed.; Guilford, E.L., ed.; Gray, Duncan, ed.; Walker, V.W., ed. Records of the Borough of Nottingham, Being a Series of Extracts from the Archives of the Corporation of Nottingham (London; Nottingham, 1882-1956), vol. IV, p. 358.
  16. Stevenson, W.H.; Raine, James, transl.; Baker, W.T., ed.; Guilford, E.L., ed.; Gray, Duncan, ed.; Walker, V.W., ed. Records of the Borough of Nottingham, Being a Series of Extracts from the Archives of the Corporation of Nottingham (London; Nottingham, 1882-1956), vol. IV, p. 373 and n. 7.
  17. Stevenson, W.H.; Raine, James, transl.; Baker, W.T., ed.; Guilford, E.L., ed.; Gray, Duncan, ed.; Walker, V.W., ed. Records of the Borough of Nottingham, Being a Series of Extracts from the Archives of the Corporation of Nottingham (London; Nottingham, 1882-1956), vol. IV, pp. 381, 383.
  18. In the printed edition that is, for Stevenson et al. by no means printed all records, and they may have omitted some later entries relating to the well.
  19. Stevenson, W.H.; Raine, James, transl.; Baker, W.T., ed.; Guilford, E.L., ed.; Gray, Duncan, ed.; Walker, V.W., ed. Records of the Borough of Nottingham, Being a Series of Extracts from the Archives of the Corporation of Nottingham (London; Nottingham, 1882-1956), vol. IV, pp. 385-86.
  20. Rotherham: Earl of Shrewsbury.
  21. Stevenson, W.H.; Raine, James, transl.; Baker, W.T., ed.; Guilford, E.L., ed.; Gray, Duncan, ed.; Walker, V.W., ed. Records of the Borough of Nottingham, Being a Series of Extracts from the Archives of the Corporation of Nottingham (London; Nottingham, 1882-1956).
  22. Deering, Charles. Nottinghamia Vetus et Nova or an Historical Account of the Ancient and Present State of the Town of Nottingham (Nottingham, 1751), sect. I, p. 2.
  23. Bob White. ' The five unsolved mysteries of Robin Hood' (Nottingham Post, 13 Nov. 2013; no longer online). See instead: The Wizard of Notts Recommends: Bob White: The five unsolved mysteries of Robin Hood.
  24. Bob White. ' The five unsolved mysteries of Robin Hood' (Nottingham Post, 13 Nov. 2013; no longer online). See instead: The Wizard of Notts Recommends: Bob White: The five unsolved mysteries of Robin Hood.
  25. Hope, R.C. 'Holy Wells: their Legends and Superstitions', The Antiquary, vol. XXII (1890), pp. 66-69, see pp. 67-68, seems mistakenly to regard the procession to the well as an ongoing tradition.
  26. Stevenson, W.H.; Raine, James, transl.; Baker, W.T., ed.; Guilford, E.L., ed.; Gray, Duncan, ed.; Walker, V.W., ed. Records of the Borough of Nottingham, Being a Series of Extracts from the Archives of the Corporation of Nottingham (London; Nottingham, 1882-1956), vol. IV, p. 441, s.n. Saint Ann's Well'.
  27. Deering, Charles. Nottinghamia Vetus et Nova or an Historical Account of the Ancient and Present State of the Town of Nottingham (Nottingham, 1751), p. 125. IRHB's brackets. Italics and capitals as in Deering. I have changed the way in which quotation of Deering's MS is indicated in the text.


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