Pontefract Hermitage is a medieval hermitage situated below the old Southgate entrance to the General Infirmary in

Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district in West Yorkshire, England. It lies to the east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, England. It is a grade I listed structure. The retreat consists of two chambers carved out of sandstone, side by side but on different levels. From the lower chamber a 63 step spiral staircase descends to a well. The later upper chamber, known as the Oratory, measures by with a domed ceiling up to 8 feet high. The Oratory contains an altar, a fireplace, a bench and low stool and a bed shelf. The entrance to the hermitage was protected by bolted doors. Pontefract had hermits from the early 13th century, the earliest of whom,

Peter of Pomfret Peter of Wakefield or Peter of Pontefract (died 1213) was an English hermit executed by King John for prophesying that John's crown would be passed to another. Peter was a simple illiterate man, living a lonely ascetic life at Wakefield. In the l ...

, was executed by King John in 1213 for predicting his downfall. This was dramatised in the Shakespeare's play King John. The hermit tradition continued for about three centuries. The hermitage described here dates from 1386 after Robert de Laythorpe granted the then hermit, Brother Adam, the hermitage and accompanying land for life. It was discovered in October 1854 by workmen laying a new sewer. The hermitage can be visited on scheduled open days.

References

{{reflist Grade I listed churches in West Yorkshire Christian hermitages in the United Kingdom Religious buildings and structures in West Yorkshire Listed buildings in Pontefract

See also

References