Tag: Sutton Park

Robin Hood’s Well, Erdington, Warwickshire

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Sacred Well (lost):  OS Grid Reference – SP 13 92

Archaeology & History

Robin Hood wells are numerous in Yorkshire and Derbyshire, but finding them in this neck o’ the woods is unusual (a Robin Hood’s Farm can be found nearly 14 miles south).  The waters here would have had obvious importance for local peasant folk in bygone centuries, perhaps with scatterings of Beltane and Midsummer rites hereby; but it seems that records are silent on such matters.  The only reference I can find of this place is in Bracken’s (1860) fascinating work on Sutton Coldfield, where he told that,

“At the extremity of the parish, near Pype, a little field is still called the Bowbearer’s Croft.  Tradition says two officers of the chase, bowbearers, had a lodge there; and that their duty was to guide the travellers across the wild country.  A very old cottage, that had been well built, was removed from the croft in 1828.  In that neighbourhood was a fountain, called Robin Hood’s well, now enclosed within the grounds of Penns, where the natural beauties of the situation have been judiciously displayed and improved by the taste of the late proprietor, Joseph Webster.”

Marshy ground to the east of Pype Hall fed the large pond, which is one contender for the site of this lost well.  What has become of it?  A search in the local library archives for any old manorial maps, or the field-name maps showing Bowbearer’s would prove truly helpful in relocating this site.

References:

  1. Bracken, L., History of the Forest and Chase of Sutton Coldfield, Simpkin Marshall: London 1860.

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

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Druid’s Well, Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire

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Sacred Well:  OS Grid Reference – SP 10162 97991

Also Known as:

  1. St. Mary’s Well

Archaeology & History

Druid’s Well in 1910(-ish)

Highlighted on the 1884 Ordnance Survey map of the region and located beyond the far eastern end of Braceridge Lake, this legendary well has seen better days.  A small well-house once covered the spring, but all we have left today is little more than a rectangular stone-lined concrete hole-in-the-ground where the waters collect (hopefully some local folk can bring it back to life).  But in the 19th century it was well known, much frequented and maintained.

Not much seems to be known about its mythic history, as the traditions surrounding its dual pagan-christian dedication seem to have been forgotten.  When the local writer Tom Burgess (1893) came to explore its history, he merely wrote:

“How it came to be called the Druids’ Well is not known, it is scarcely necessary to say that it can have no Druidical connection; it is very probable, however, that it was dedicated to Saint Mary long before the dam of Bracebridge Pool was made by Ralph Bracebridge in the reign of Henry V.”

Druids Well in 1917
Druid’s Well in 1932

Jeremy Harte (2008) suggested that this well’s druidic association may have come from a local man, William Hutton who, in the middle of the 18th century, “speculated on a druid sanctuary near Sutton Coldfield.”  But before Hutton, the 17th century Staffordshire topographer, Robert Plot, suggested that an arch-druid held residence on Barr Beacon, which is less than three miles west of here.  This idea was echoed by Midgley (1904) who told that Barr Beacon “is supposed to have been a Druidical shrine.”  Just over three miles to the northwest, the Druid’s Heath (a place-name derived, apparently, from an old family) at Aldridge also had its own array of folklore which, perhaps, may have had something to do with this well’s association.  When Roy Palmer (1976) wrote about the Druid’s Well in his folklore survey, he told that Sutton Coldfield,

“is said once to have been the seat of the arch-druid of Britain; perhaps this was his well, which was later christianized.”

So much to choose from…

References:

  1. Bord, Janet, Holy Wells in Britain – A Guide, HOAP: Wymeswold 2008.
  2. Bracken, L., History of the Forest and Chase of Sutton Coldfield, Simpkin Marshall: London 1860.
  3. Burgess, J.T., Historic Warwickshire, Simpkin Marshall: Lond 1893.
  4. Harte, Jeremy, English Holy Wells – volume 2, Heart of Albion press: Wymeswold 2008.
  5. Midgley, W., A Short History of the Town and Chase of Suton Coldfield, Midland Counties Herald: Birmingham 1904.
  6. Palmer, Roy, The Folklore of Warwickshire, Batsford: London 1976.

Acknowledgements:  Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland. 

© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian

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