90 discoverbritainmag.comONLY IN BRITAINW
e tend to think of tourism as a modern industry,
only first being properly established in the era
of the cheap package holiday or maybe even
stretching back to the Victorian obsession with
restorative trips to the seaside. Yet while all of this is true, some
enterprising folk have been welcoming tourists for far longer than
that. Mother Shipton’s Cave claims to be England’s oldest visitor
attraction and it dates back some 500 years. At first glance, it looks
like nothing more than an ivy-strewn
enclave along the banks of the River Nidd,
so it begs the questions: who is Mother
Shipton? What’s so interesting about her
cave? And why have millions of visitors
paid to visit this leafy corner of Yorkshire?
Our story begins in 1488 when Agatha Sontheil, a 15-year-old girl
from Knaresborough, found herself pregnant. With no parents or
husband to support her, she was banished from the village and took
shelter in the cave, where she gave birth to her daughter, Ursula.
With Agatha unable to care for her, the Abbot of Beverley intervened
and placed her with a local family. Ursula was a bright yet ugly child,
with a crooked nose and twisted frame. Taunted by local children,
she found solace in the woods and made her home in the cave.
Thought by many to be a witch, Ursula eked out a living making
herbal remedies and telling fortunes. She became so successful at
the latter that she soon became known as Knaresborough’s
Prophetess and people travelled from miles around to hear herpredictions delivered in prose. (Her moniker was the result of a
brief marriage to carpenter Tobias Shipton in her mid-20s and then
becoming the oldest woman in the village prior to her death in 1561).
While some stories have been embellished, Ursula did apparently
foretell the Great Fire of London, the Spanish Armada and the
downfall of Cardinal Wolsey, while optimists claim that she even
predicted the internet in the line: “Around the world thoughts shall
fly in the twinkling of an eye”. Her aura of mysticism was further
enhanced by the cave’s Petrifying Well.
While Tudor visitors were dumbfounded
by objects turning to stone in the waters,
modern science has revealed the process of
petrification occurs thanks to a rare mix of
high mineral content and rapid evaporation.
A museum next to the cave houses various petrified items donated by
visitors, including, famously, Queen Mary’s shoe from a 1923 visit.
While Mother Shipton is long gone, the Wishing Well of Good
Fortune is fed by the same waters and allows modern-day visitors
to make a wish if the rules are obeyed: use your right hand, allow
the water to dry naturally on the hand, and don’t wish for money.
The latter is something this eccentric attraction has never needed
to yearn for. Fittingly for an attraction that has been charging an
entrance fee since 1630, Mother Shipton’s Cave is quick to capitalise
further with petrified “stone” teddy bears and bottles of “healing”
well waters on sale in the gift shop. n
http://www.mothershipton.co.ukMother Shipton’s Cave
Just who is the strange Tudor woman behind England’s oldest visitor attraction?
Thought by many to be a
witch, Mother Shipton eked
out a living telling fortunesSTEVE MORGAN/ALAMYObjects hang over
the Petrifying Well in
Mother Shipton’s Cave090_DB_OIB2_AprMay20.indd 90 25/02/2020 15:2990 discoverbritainmag.com
ONLY IN BRITAIN
W
e tend to think of tourism as a modern industry,
only first being properly established in the era
of the cheap package holiday or maybe even
stretching back to the Victorian obsession with
restorative trips to the seaside. Yet while all of this is true, some
enterprising folk have been welcoming tourists for far longer than
that. Mother Shipton’s Cave claims to be England’s oldest visitor
attraction and it dates back some 500 years. At first glance, it looks
like nothing more than an ivy-strewn
enclave along the banks of the River Nidd,
so it begs the questions: who is Mother
Shipton? What’s so interesting about her
cave? And why have millions of visitors
paid to visit this leafy corner of Yorkshire?
Our story begins in 1488 when Agatha Sontheil, a 15-year-old girl
from Knaresborough, found herself pregnant. With no parents or
husband to support her, she was banished from the village and took
shelter in the cave, where she gave birth to her daughter, Ursula.
With Agatha unable to care for her, the Abbot of Beverley intervened
and placed her with a local family. Ursula was a bright yet ugly child,
with a crooked nose and twisted frame. Taunted by local children,
she found solace in the woods and made her home in the cave.
Thought by many to be a witch, Ursula eked out a living making
herbal remedies and telling fortunes. She became so successful at
the latter that she soon became known as Knaresborough’s
Prophetess and people travelled from miles around to hear her
predictions delivered in prose. (Her moniker was the result of a
brief marriage to carpenter Tobias Shipton in her mid-20s and then
becoming the oldest woman in the village prior to her death in 1561).
While some stories have been embellished, Ursula did apparently
foretell the Great Fire of London, the Spanish Armada and the
downfall of Cardinal Wolsey, while optimists claim that she even
predicted the internet in the line: “Around the world thoughts shall
fly in the twinkling of an eye”. Her aura of mysticism was further
enhanced by the cave’s Petrifying Well.
While Tudor visitors were dumbfounded
by objects turning to stone in the waters,
modern science has revealed the process of
petrification occurs thanks to a rare mix of
high mineral content and rapid evaporation.
A museum next to the cave houses various petrified items donated by
visitors, including, famously, Queen Mary’s shoe from a 1923 visit.
While Mother Shipton is long gone, the Wishing Well of Good
Fortune is fed by the same waters and allows modern-day visitors
to make a wish if the rules are obeyed: use your right hand, allow
the water to dry naturally on the hand, and don’t wish for money.
The latter is something this eccentric attraction has never needed
to yearn for. Fittingly for an attraction that has been charging an
entrance fee since 1630, Mother Shipton’s Cave is quick to capitalise
further with petrified “stone” teddy bears and bottles of “healing”
well waters on sale in the gift shop.n
http://www.mothershipton.co.ukMotherShipton’sCave
Just who is the strange Tudor woman behind England’s oldest visitor attraction?
Thought by many to be a
witch, Mother Shipton eked
out a living telling fortunesSTEVE MORGAN/ALAMYObjects hang over
the Petrifying Well in
Mother Shipton’s Cave