Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag Knaresborough

Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag Knaresborough Our Lady of the Crag in Knaresborough is a beautiful Marian shrine built in 1408. Today the shrine is looked after by a small committee of volunteers.

The Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag is a 'Marian' shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary and her son, Jesus Christ. The Chapel was built by someone known as 'John the Mason' in 1408. A Royal Charter attests to the date, but the rest of the founding story is either legend or conjecture! John the Mason probably worked to obtain stone for Knaresborough Castle from the nearby quarry. The story goes that h

is son was almost killed by a rock fall in the quarry. John fervently prayed to the Virgin Mary to save him. When he emerged, miraculously unscathed, from the rubble, John built this chapel in thanksgiving. There are two other reasons that might have prompted him to have hewn the Chapel out of the rock. Firstly, the Chapel is a wayside shrine, and in 1408 it was en route to Knaresborough's priory (destroyed at the Reformation). Secondly, John would have loved to have displayed his skills to the people of his day; the Chapel is the work of a master craftsman, with a carved altar, vaulted ceiling, roof bosses and gargoyles, looking every bit like an erected building, but with a special quality, created from the crag itself. The group that have cared for the Chapel for the past 20 years are now a Trust and registered with the Charities Commission (1171904). The group open the Chapel to visitors and pilgrims, and raise funds for the upkeep of the Chapel and minor site maintenance projects. The chapel is open 2pm - 4pm on Sundays from Easter until the end of September (weather permitting). To arrange a visit outside of these times please contact us at - [email protected]

10/05/2025
07/05/2025
We are happy to announce that from tomorrow (29/05/22) the chapel will be open 2pm-4pm each Sunday (weather permitting).
28/05/2022

We are happy to announce that from tomorrow (29/05/22) the chapel will be open 2pm-4pm each Sunday (weather permitting).

06/04/2022

The Chapel will be closed for the reconstruction of the boundary wall along Abbey Road. The work is scheduled to begin on the weekend of April 8th-11th. The expected completion date for the work is around the middle of May. We will advise you via the website and page as to the re-opening of the chapel for private arranged visits and for public access on Sunday afternoons. Apologies for the inconvenience; the wall has needed repair for some years now and has to be done before it becomes a public safety liability. Thank you for your understanding.

The work has been part-funded by Knaresborough Town Council, the Pilgrim Trust, and the Garfield Weston Foundation. A grateful thank you to them from the Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag Trust. We are also pursuing other avenues of possible funding that would allow us to avoid loans.

The Chapel was featured in the Guardian this week as one of Britain's 10 best small pilgrimage sites!
03/01/2022

The Chapel was featured in the Guardian this week as one of Britain's 10 best small pilgrimage sites!

Remote churches, peace monuments and Celtic-style hillside etchings make for a meditative – and free – new year pilgrimage

The Chapel is now open on Sundays (weather permitting) 2pm - 4pm.We kindly ask that only individuals or one family group...
08/08/2021

The Chapel is now open on Sundays (weather permitting) 2pm - 4pm.
We kindly ask that only individuals or one family group enter the chapel at a time.

Reposted using ._ from Cara and Finn at the Chapel of the Cragg, Knaresborough. We prayed there before and after Cara w...
07/06/2021

Reposted using ._ from

Cara and Finn at the Chapel of the Cragg, Knaresborough. We prayed there before and after Cara was diagnosed. The chapel kindly added this to their website:
BOOK COMMEMORATES CHILD VISITOR TO CRAG
Little Cara Mervyn used to visit the Chapel with her family, parents Kieran and Faye, and younger brother Finn. Tragically, Cara died from a brain tumour in the early hours of the 29th December 2019 at the age of 11. Kieran and Faye, originally from Belfast and now living in Leeds, have written a book that remembers Cara, celebrates her short life, and chronicles the many supernatural experiences that they have had after her death, reassuring them of her after-life existence.
The book is called Is Mise Cara ('I am Cara' in Irish). See:  https://www.ismisecara.com/books and https://books2read.com/ismisecara
Book can be purchase directly via the Yorkshire Brain Tumour Charity shop: https://www.shop.yorksbtc.org.uk/product-page/is-mise-cara-i-am-cara (25% of royalties go to charity from Amazon sales or five pounds per book sold locally via the shop).

26/10/2020

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we are providing free food parcels to the most vulnerable in our area. We commenced deliveries on 18 March 2020 ...

A fun cryptic quiz with a real treat of a prize and all to raise money for an extremely important charity. If you want t...
22/04/2020

A fun cryptic quiz with a real treat of a prize and all to raise money for an extremely important charity. If you want to take part you best be quick as answer have to be back tomorrow!

YOU’VE GOT TO BE IN IT TO WIN IT!
Time’s running out to order our fantastic LOCKDOWN QUIZ EXTRVAGANZA.
All cryptic conundrums have been set by Frank’s dad Mike Ashton & they’re bound to get you scratching your head from now until Friday.
£7 to enter. Message for details.
Win a Hamper donated by Fodder. Yum!
ALL PROCEEDS TO FRANK’S FUND

Address

Abbey Road
Knaresborough
HG58

Opening Hours

2pm - 4pm

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