Warkworth Hermitage

The Warkworth Hermitage is a mid-14th century hermitage, with later additions dating to the late 14th or early 15th century. It is situated on the River Coquet near Warkworth. The original part of the building was cut directly into the natural sandstone cliff face, while later sections are constructed from squared stone with cut dressings. The plan consists of a three-bay chapel with a parallel sacristy cut into the cliff behind it. Attached to this is a later hall with a solar above and a kitchen.

The external elevation features a four-metre high front wall to the hall and solar, with a projecting stepped chimney breast and remains of chamfered window openings on the left side. To the right are the remains of a door leading to an entrance lobby (beneath a later staircase), a chamfered round arch to the hall, and a blocked chamfered door into the kitchen. Only the footings remain of the kitchen, including the base of an oven on the right return. A staircase from the kitchen leads up to a roughly-arched chapel door cut directly into the rock face above. To the right of the chapel door is a quatrefoil loop and a window of two pointed lights set within a rough enclosing arch; to the left is a recessed loop cut into the rock. To the right of the chapel, a rock buttress incorporates a flight of steps rising through a short tunnel to the former hermit’s garden on the cliff top.

The interior chapel doorway leads into a small porch with a worn crucifix above a small inner doorway. The chapel itself measures 6.2 metres by 2.3 metres and features imitation groined vaulting supported by semi-octagonal wall shafts with moulded caps and bases. There is a rock-cut altar with a cusped recess above; on the south side of the altar are worn relief carvings, possibly depicting a Nativity, on the inner sill of a two-light window. A four-light traceried window opens into the sacristy on the north side. The central bay contains a cusped squint on the north side and a bowl cut into the sill of a quatrefoil window on the south side. The west bay has a doorway leading to the sacristy, beneath a shield bearing emblems of the Passion.

The sacristy has a plain arched roof, a damaged altar at the east end, two cupboards on the north side, and traces of a screen near the west end. A doorway at the west end of the south wall, which now opens onto the cliff face, leads to a chamber (also open to the west) with four narrow slits looking into the west end of the chapel.

The hermitage was first recorded in 1487, when Thomas Barker was appointed chaplain of the chantry. It was abandoned by 1567. It is considered one of the most elaborate and well-preserved cave hermitages in the British Isles and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument (Northumberland 6A).