Wine Wife Well - Sawley (nr Ripon)
(SE 2320 6742)

Wine Wife Well is located just off the B6265, Ripon to Pateley Bridge road.
Back in 1989 YHASS noted that this well is liable to encroachment by bracken. On a visit to the well in Sept 99 the well was not visible at all, with its location eventually being revealed by the trickling sound of water from behind a curtain of bracken fronds.
The stone built well chamber is set into a low earth bank and the water enters at the back through a pipe, keeping the level topped up to around 15cm deep in the chamber before it overflows the front sill and flows away in a small stream.
The name Wine Wife is unusual and its meaning something of a puzzle. The term Ale-wife is on record and refers back to a time when the women of a household used to brew beer (the staple drink in Middle Ages, being safer to drink than the water!) The name later referred to a women who ran an inn or tavern - the equivalent of our modern 'land lady'.
Another possibility is that the original map surveyors misheard and recorded the name incorrectly, perhaps a dialect word that sounded like wine?  In this case it may be part of the Old Wife tradition (see Old Wives Well) which seems to have been quite widespread across the region.

The well is located in a small wooded area among silver birch and willow trees.