Harrogate Borough Council
Menu
St Robert's Cave, Knaresborough
Sitting snugly beside the River Nidd on the outskirts of Knaresborough, Saint Robert's Cave is a rare survival of a medieval hermit's home. This site once attracted thousands of pilgrims to this North Yorkshire town.
Robert of Knaresborough lived on this site in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Pilgrims flocked to Robert in his lifetime, and they continued to come to the cave in large numbers for centuries after his death in 1218.
Pilgrims came to be healed of physical ailments, for spiritual direction, or simply to be in close proximity to the home of a revered holy man.
Today, visitors continue to come to St Robert's Cave to see the place where this extraordinary man lived. The small cave is carved into the face of the limestone cliff, and the remains of a chapel and Robert's living area survive. The site retains a remarkable atmosphere of distant times.
Stained glass window depicting a scene from the life of St Robert, with permission of St Matthew's Church, Morley, Derbyshire