Fairy Well - Harmby
(SE 1242 8969)

Fairy Well is located in open pasture fields just to the west of the Harmby village. The water from nearby springs appears to have been piped away but the Fairy Well continues to flow and the water collects in a cast iron trough for use by livestock in the fields. There may be the remains of a broken stone trough behind the metal one, but this is buried by the collapsed drystone walling which supports the banking around the well. Among the tumble of stones behind the trough, the spring supplying the water can be seen flowing from beneath a flat stone set into the banking.

The well is marked as 'Fairy Well' on the first edition OS map, which dates to around 1850, so the connection with the 'Wee folk' goes back beyond this date. Growing alongside the well are two hawthorn and an Elder tree, both these types of tree feature in folklore, the Elder especially been linked with the faerie folk. Interestingly, folklore records that the Faerie do not like iron and an iron object could break a fairy enchantment. In the past, livestock that became sick for no obvious reason were often thought to have been 'elf shot', so perhaps the iron trough was placed there to protect the animals!
The well also over-looks the flood plane of the river Ure and in the past such low lying land was the haunt of the 'Will-o-Wisp' or 'fairy lights', which could be seen floating slowly across the ground on damp, misty nights. So perhaps this gave rise to the wells name?