Photos

Welcome to Knaresborough!
;-D


This is a medieval religious shrine situated on Abbey Road by the river in Knaresborough (400 yards down the river from the Viaduct shown here). The Chapel was carved out of the rock in about 1408 by 'John the Mason', and is believed to be the third oldest wayside shrine in Britain. John was a local stonemason who worked in the nearby quarry and one day, his son was playing on the rocky cliff when there was a great downfall of stones and boulders. The father of the boy attributed his son's narrow escape from death as a miraculous intervention by the Virgin Mary and is said to have built the shrine in thanksgiving and dedicated it to the Blessed Virgin. In earlier times it was called "Saint Robert's Chapel", probably inaccurately, since it was constructed almost two centuries after the saint's death and may have been confused with Saint Robert's Cave, tucked away on the same riverbank further down Abbey Road.
Here you can see the figure of St Robert the hermit, carved at the entrance.

Today, the Chapel is owned by Ampleforth Abbey. It was given to the Abbey by John Martin, a Roman Catholic from Liverpool, who bought it in 1916. The R.C. parish of St. Mary's Knaresborough looks after it on the Abbey's behalf.

Next door to the cave (actually, just above on top) is a famous Knaresborough folly known as the House in the Rock.


www.knaresborough.co.uk