Grotto And Arches On Grotto Hill

The Grotto and arches on Grotto Hill is an early to mid-18th century structure built for Sir Richard Hill, who was the builder of Hawkstone Hall. The grotto was continued by his nephew, Sir Rowland Hill, and significantly embellished and extended by Sir Richard Hill, the second baronet of Hawkstone, in the late 18th century.

The grotto is carved out of natural sandstone and likely utilizes existing caves. It features regularly coursed and dressed sandstone arches at the southern entrance, which encloses an atrium that once had a gabled roof. A pointed arch above served as an eye-catcher from below. Originally, the entrances to the grotto were from a path cut into the rock on the west face of the hill, but in the late 18th century, a long dark subterranean passage, possibly created for the first Sir Richard Hill, was rediscovered and cleared out.

Inside, there are numerous chambers and passages with columns and crude 'vaulting' resulting from excavation, illuminated by portholes that were once filled with stained glass. At least one round-headed arch features 'rusticated voussoirs'. Several chambers were decorated with shells, corals, ore, jet, and other encrustations, some of which still survive in a side chamber off the south entrance, although much of this decoration and the stained glass were destroyed in the 1940s.

Visitors to the grotto would find themselves at the edge of a steep drop below the southern entrance, with a rock-cut seat to the right for rest before re-entering the cave and exiting through the western entrance to begin the walk across the so-called Raven's Shelf in preparation for the challenging descent.