|
Tours > Robin Hood's Nottingham > Fountains Dale
 Fountain Dale
Two miles north-west of Blidworth (567568)
Friar Tuck was supposedly one of a series of hermits who lived in a little cell, cave, beside the holy-well at Fountain Dale. They were probably attached to nearby Newstead Priory and looked after a small chapel with a shrine which may have stood within the nearby moat. Although this may have been the site of the hermitage itself. When Robin Hood first met the jolly Friar here, they carried each other across the moat on one another's backs in a contest of wits. This led to Robin being thrown off and baptised in the water!
Local tradition says that when Friar Turk was evicted from his cell after seven years residence, the well dried up for the same length of time due to a curse placed on it by the canons of Newstead. Ever since it has only flowed every seventh year. At nearby Fountain Dale House, Sir Walter Scott penned parts of 'Ivanhoe' in which he called the area 'Copmanhurst'. The last ruinous stones from the old hermitage were apparently removed in 1875.
Running is south from here is Blood & Guts Lane leading to the Little John pub. Robin Hood is thought to have first met little John nearby.
Next Stop: Blidworth Church, Blidworth
Click to review The History of Robin Hood
|
|
|
){kind=small}