Mother Shipton's Cave
Named after Mother Shipton, Mother Shipton's Cave is a small tufa cave in a rocky outcrop on the banks of the River Nidd in Knaresborough.
Mother Shipton herself was a sixteenth century prophetess who is said to have predicted significant events such as the Great Fire of London in 1666 as well as the invention of the motor car, aeroplanes and iron ships (which of course came to pass several centuries later).
Her real name was actually Ursula Southiel or Sontheil, a local resident of the Knaresborough area who was said to have been born in (and possibly also have lived in) the cave itself.
The story goes that her 15 year old mother Agatha became pregnant out of wedlock, and (having refused give a name to the father to a local magistrate) became homeless and so went to live in the cave where Ursula was born during a violent thunderstorm sometime around 1486. Ursula was placed in to foster care, and took the name Shipton on marrying a local carpenter called Toby Shipton in 1512, who died two years later in 1414.
Now known as Mother Shipton her prophecies brought her fame throughout the land, but with them also came the very dangerous risks of being suspected as a witch. Her activities are believed to have come to the attention of Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey, but no prosecution was ever attempted and her fame spread far and wide. Such was her popularity that around a century later in the aftemath of the Great Fire of London the diarist Samuel Peyps commented that her prediction about that particular event had come to pass..
Adjacent to Mother Shipton's Cave is the famous Dropping Well, where objects hung up in the mineral rich dripping spring waters there get slowly turned in to stone!
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