Chapel Of Our Lady Of The Crag

SE 3556 9/34

KNARESBOROUGH ABBEY ROAD (north-east side, off) Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag

5.2.52

GV I

Chapel. Early C15 with late C17 and early C18 alterations. Probably by John Mason (or Lovell). Carved out of cliff face. Board door in rock-cut round arch. Window to left contains Perpendicular panel tracery altered to a mullion and transom. Figure of knight in relief to right of door probably made between 1695 and 1739. Interior not inspected at resurvey but recorded in detail (Cummins p 83) as 12 feet long, 8 feet broad and 7 feet high. The rock is carved to form piscina, pillars with floriate capitals, vaulting with bosses, and an altar with canopied niche. The chapel was probably made as an oratory next to the large quarry used in the construction and subsequent repairs to the castle (q.v.). By the later C16 it was known as the Chapel of Our Lady of the Quarry. There was renewed interest in it during the late C17 to early C18 when it became a popular site for visitors and pilgrims. It became confused with the cave occupied by the C12 hermit, Saint Robert, (q.v.) during the C16 to C19 and much of the confusion between the two caves remains today. Abbot Cummins, "Knaresborough Cave-Chapels", Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, XXVIII,(1926) pp 80-88.

Listing NGR: SE3513556447