Description

SE 35 NE KNARESBOROUGH ABBEY ROAD
(east side)

3/35 Saint Robert's Cave, also
called Saint Robert's
5.2.52 Chapel, approximately 120
metres south west of Grimbald
Bridge (formerly listed as
St Robert's Cave or Chapel)

- II*

Cave and foundations of adjoining chapel or outbuildings. Associated with
Saint Robert the hermit, 1160-1218, but no datable features. Foundations of
rectangular building containing grave recess, rock-cut bench and steps.
Entrance to cave between bench (left) and steps (right). The cave is
entered down two steps and contains an outer and inner chamber. The walls
and roof are covered by niches and inscriptions. At time of resurvey the
cave contained 30 centimetres of water and the building foundations were
overgrown. The cave is associated with the legendary hermit, Robert Flower,
but it was known previously as Saint Giles' Chapel. Robert's brother,
Walter, was Mayor of York and he sent craftsmen to build a chapel of hewn
stone in honour of the Holy Cross, with a house where Robert might receive
pilgrims and the poor. This site is thought to be of that period (Jennings, p 103)
The cave became a popular tourist attraction after the discovery in 1746
of the body of Daniel Clark, for whose murder Eugene Aram was hanged in
1759. The event was used by Lord Lytton for a novel published in 3 volumes,
1832. Abbot Cummins, "Knaresborough Cave Chapels", Yorks Arch J,XXVIII,
(1926) pp 80-88.
B Jennings (Ed), Harrogate and Knaresborough, 1970, pp 98 and 381.
H Speight, Nidderdale, 1906, pp 249-51.

Listing NGR: SE3610056087

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Saint Roberts Cave, Also Called Saint Roberts Chapel, Approximately 120 Metres South West Of Grimbal at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17536140

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)