This tale is associated with Nanny Rutt’s Well, a supposed artesian spring (not marked on current or past OS maps) in Math Wood, near Bourne. It tells the cautionary tale of a young woman who enters the wood to meet her lover and is murdered by an old woman whose face is covered by a shawl. As with most folk tales, there are myriad competing versions, one of which is here. It is possible the tale was invented to caution children against going into the woods, or to dissuade sexual impropriety. The tale was, according to some not especially reliable sources, popular in the early twentieth century, but may be very considerably older – or more recent. As a tale type, though, it is common. Rory Waterman includes an adaptation in Come Here to This Gate (Carcanet, 2024). You can listen to an excellent oral version of the Nanny Rutt story on the Lincolnshire episode of the Three Ravens Podcast (2025), which also includes discussion with Rory and Anna from the Lincolnshire Folk Tales Project. The story starts at 1:28:52. It is repeated in Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux’s excellent book, The Three Ravens Folk Tales (2025), as a tale from Lincolnshire.  

Written versions are hard to find. This leaves the origin of the tale – which could be very old, very recent, or anywhere between, depending on how loosely you define the term ‘the tale’ – open to wild speculation. There is no evidence or record of there being or having been a well or spring in Math Wood.

Words by RORY WATERMAN