Warkworth Hermitage facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Warkworth Hermitage |
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Warkworth Hermitage
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| General information | |
| Location | Northumberland, England, UK |
| Coordinates | 55°20′49″N 1°37′16″W / 55.347°N 1.621°W |
Warkworth Hermitage is a special place in Northumberland, England. It's a chapel and a priest's home built right into a cliff. You can find it on the north bank of the River Coquet, not far from Warkworth Castle and the village of Warkworth.
A hermitage is a quiet place where a religious person, like a priest, lives alone. This hermitage has two main parts. One part is built from stone. The other part is carved directly out of the sandstone cliff. This carved part includes a small chapel (a place for worship) and another smaller room. Both rooms have an altar, which is a special table used in religious services. Inside the chapel, there's also a tomb with a statue of a woman on it, called an effigy.
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History of the Hermitage
This unique building was created in the late 1300s. You can see this from the style of the carvings and the windows. It shows a type of building design called late Decorated Gothic architecture.
There's a famous old story about how the hermitage started. It's told in a poem from 1771 called The Hermit of Warkworth by Bishop Percy. This poem says the hermitage was built by a knight from Bothal Castle. However, this story is a legend. The hermitage was actually built as a "chantry." This means it was a chapel where priests would pray for the souls of specific people.
From 1489 to 1536, several priests lived and worked here. After that time, the hermitage has stayed much the same as it is today.
What You Can See Inside
One of the most interesting features is a carving in the window between the two main rooms. This carving shows a Nativity scene, which tells the story of the birth of Jesus.
Visiting Warkworth Hermitage
Today, English Heritage looks after Warkworth Hermitage. They are a charity that cares for historic places. The only way to reach the hermitage is by a small ferry boat. You can catch the boat from a path along the river, below Warkworth Castle. The ferry point is about half a mile upstream from the castle.
The hermitage is open to visitors during the summer months. English Heritage manages it along with the nearby Warkworth Castle. It's a great place to explore and imagine what life was like for the priests who lived there centuries ago.
In Literature
Besides the poem by Bishop Percy, the hermitage has also inspired other writers. For example, Letitia Elizabeth Landon wrote a poem about it called Warkworth Hermitage. This poem was published in a book called Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book in 1836.
