Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag is a Grade I listed building in the North Yorkshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 5 February 1952. A Early C15 Chapel. 1 related planning application.
Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag
- WRENN ID
- sheer-window-myrtle
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- North Yorkshire
- Constituency
- Harrogate and Knaresborough MP: Tom Gordon (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 5 February 1952
- Type
- Chapel
- Address
- Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag, Abbey Road, Knaresborough
- OS grid reference
- SE 351 564
- Coordinates
- 54.00288, -1.46547
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag is a chapel dating from the early 15th century, with alterations made in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. It is likely the work of John Mason or Lovell and is uniquely carved out of the cliff face. The chapel features a board door set within a rock-cut round arch. To the left of the door is a window that contains Perpendicular panel tracery, which has been altered to include a mullion and transom. To the right of the door, there is a relief figure of a knight, likely created between 1695 and 1739.
The interior, which was not inspected during the resurvey but has been previously recorded, measures 12 feet long, 8 feet broad, and 7 feet high. The rock has been carved to create a piscina, pillars with floriate capitals, vaulting with bosses, and an altar with a canopied niche. The chapel was probably established as an oratory next to a large quarry used for the construction and repairs of the nearby castle. By the late 16th century, it was referred to as the Chapel of Our Lady of the Quarry.
Interest in the chapel grew during the late 17th to early 18th centuries, making it a popular destination for visitors and pilgrims. There was some confusion between this chapel and the cave occupied by the 12th-century hermit, Saint Robert, from the 16th to the 19th centuries, and this confusion persists today.
Local climate
Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag receives an average of 810 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 50% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 73% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 43 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 81% of listed buildings. Of these, 22 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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