The earliest mention of the Rosamund legend at Woodstock can be traced back to Ranulf Higden, a 13th-14th century chronicler from Chester. However, the tale was popularised when it was included in John Stow's 1580 book The Annales of England.

Stow's version includes all the key points of the legend, including Rosamund's beauty, the house within a maze, the silk thread, Rosamund's poisoning at the hands of Queen Eleanor and finally her burial at Godstow.

Rosamund's Well can be found today at Blenheim by crossing the bridge northwards over the lake and then immediately turning left down the steep path that runs alongside the lake. The site is overlooked by many who walk this way in the hope of seeing the grand Cedar of Lebanon that appeared in one of the Harry Potter films!

The Well is in a lovely spot overlooking the lake, but it is hard to imagine it sitting at the centre of a maze, as is described in the legend. In fact, the landscape has changed dramatically since the time of King Henry and Rosamund. In the 1760s, the grounds were completely reimagined by the famous landscape architect Capability Brown, who created the Great Lake at Blenheim by damming the River Glyme. Before this, Rosamund's Well would have been some distance from the river and in a very different setting.

Katherine Briggs mentions that until the eighteenth century 'extensive ruins of what was supposed to be Fair Rosamund's Bower remained in Woodstock' but were destroyed during the construction of Blenheim Palace.

At what point the spring became known as 'Rosamund's Well' is unclear, but it was certainly called that at least as far back as 1660 when it was mentioned in Thomas Widdows' pamphlet The just devil of Woodstock, which recounts a haunting said to have taken place during at Woodstock Manor during the civil war.