St. Cuthbert’s Cave

A pit stop to stretch our legs during the lengthy journey up to Edinburgh.

St. Cuthbert’s Cave, a property owned by the National Trust in the Kyloe Hills, earned its name thanks to a group of monks back in 875. Fearing the looming arrival of the Great Heathen Army, they fled from Lindisfarne Abbey with good old Saint Cuthbert’s coffin on the back of a cart, and this cave is where they are supposed to have taken a breather.

For a solid seven years, they carted that sacred cargo around Northumbria, making brief stops in places like Kildale in Cleveland, before finally setting it down in Chester-le-Street¹Eyre, Charles. “The History of St. Cuthbert Or, An Account of His Life, Decease, and Miracles, of the Wanderings with His Body at Intervals During CXXIV Years, of the State of His Body from His Decease Until A.D. 1542, and of the Various Monuments Erected to His Memory”. James Burns, 1849. [online] Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2pFQAAAAcAAJ&lpg=PA105&dq=%22pilgrimage%20of%20grace%22%20%22kildale%22&pg=PA105#v=onepage&q=%20%22kildale%22&f=false [Accessed 19 Oct. 2021]..

Now, fast forward to 995, another threatened Danish invasion shook things up, and the saint’s coffin had to hit the road again, this time ending up in Ripon. But St Cuthbert had other plans, or at least that’s what folks believed when the wagon got stuck in Durham — like a divine sign. So, it was decided the saint wanted to stay in Durham, and that’s where he’s been ever since.

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  Eyre, Charles. “The History of St. Cuthbert Or, An Account of His Life, Decease, and Miracles, of the Wanderings with His Body at Intervals During CXXIV Years, of the State of His Body from His Decease Until A.D. 1542, and of the Various Monuments Erected to His Memory”. James Burns, 1849. [online] Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2pFQAAAAcAAJ&lpg=PA105&dq=%22pilgrimage%20of%20grace%22%20%22kildale%22&pg=PA105#v=onepage&q=%20%22kildale%22&f=false [Accessed 19 Oct. 2021].