LONDON

The English hill that Jack climbed up with Jill to fetch a pail of water is to be restored.

Local officials in the Somerset village which inspired the English children’s nursery rhyme 450 years ago are to mend the well at the top of Bad Stone Hill and repair the path down which Jack came tumbling and broke his crown.

"We want to give others the chance to come along and enjoy the site where Jack and Jill once climbed so that they too can make the nursery rhyme come alive," parish council chairman Barry Fowler said.

Jack and Jill are believed to have been unmarried lovers who lived in the rural south-west English village of Kilmersdon in the late 15^th century,

Jack was killed by a boulder that broke away from the hill and Jill died in childbirth a few days later.

The well was sealed 75 years ago because it was considered dangerous and the steep hillside path is crumbling.

The parish council this week applied for a £30,000 (NZ$95,000) grant to repair the well and landscape the pathway. – Reuter.