Saint Wilfrid’s Needle – Ripon

“And Saint Wilfred’s bone of Ripon to keep cattle from pain,
And his needle which sinners can not pass the eye”

(Holme 1537)

  Ripon cathedral is built on the site of an early church established by saint Wilfrid in 672 AD. The small crypt beneath the cathedral is believed to be part of this church, and archaeological survey work revealed that the crypt was built with reused Roman stonework, probably brought from Aldborough, 6 miles to the south east. Within the crypt, a set of rough stone steps can be seen leading up to a small opening through the north wall. This opening is known as Saint Wilfrid’s Needle, and for hundreds of years it was the focus of unusual religious and folklore practices.

The “Neddel of Seynt Wilfred” is mentioned in a will dating from 1466, but it was William Camden’s Britannia which first provided some curious details about the ‘Needle’s Eye’ …
“Within the Church, Saint Wilfrides Needle was in our grandfathers remembrance very famous. A narrow hole this was, in the Crowdes or close vaulted roome under the ground, whereby womens honestie was tried. For such as were chast did easily passe through, but as many as had played false were miraculously, I know not how, held fast and could not creepe through.”

Pratting about at Gormire Lake

  Gormire lake is located at the foot of Sutton Bank, 5 miles to the east of Thirsk.

  On previous visits to Gormire, an almost uncanny silence was noticed around the lake when there was no one else about. The enclosing low ridge and high cliff face seems to shield the lake from external noise, while the still body of water perhaps absorbs or deadens any sound.

  A visit to Gormire on a cold day in January 2023 found the lake totally frozen over, and we seemed to be the only ones who had ventured down to the lake on that chilly morning. So it was rather startling when the silence was broken by a loud ‘Twing-Twang-Twang-Twang’ noise echoing across the lake. The sound was so bizarre and out of place that we immediately looked up and around for some explanation, but there was nothing. Utterly puzzled by the noise we walked on, then a few minutes later the sound came again, but this time we could see a young guy further around the lake skimming stones across the frozen surface. Some how this created the strange noise as the stone skipped across the ice, with the sound seemingly greatly amplified by the massive frozen sheet.

Megaliths Exhibition 2023 – Kirkleatham

An exhibition of photographs and paintings by local artists Gavin Parry and Tony Galuidi.

The 100 ton Rocking Stone

The Rocking Stone, on lofty column poised,
Yields to my touch, and at terrific height,
In mid air vibrates.

(James Holme, 1835)

  The Victorian guide books to Brimham Rocks mentions a 100 ton rocking stone sitting on top of a high crag, which was said to be visible from Harrogate, 8 miles away to south-east.

 “Elevated on the southernmost range of crags, is a stupendous Rocking Stone, conjectured to weigh above one hundred tons, and visible even from Harrogate and its surrounding country. On the top are two rock basons, of a circular form.” (Linney, 1838).

  There are no modern references to this rocking stone, and it is not shown on any maps of the site, so for some reason it appears to have been forgotten. Several visits to the crags failed to find the rocking stone, which seemed odd given its supposed size and elevated position.

In search of Saint Winifrid’s Needle

  Even a brief look into the history and folklore of Roseberry Topping reveals a fascinating picture of this impressive local landmark. One interesting source of information is the ‘Chaloner letter’ written in early 1660’s, which mentions Roseberry Topping, and noted that …

 “it hath somtymes had an hermitage on it, and a small smith’s forge cut out of the rocke, together with a clefte or cut in the rocke called St. Winifrid’s Needle, whither blind devotion led many a silly soul, not without hazard of a breaknecke tumblinge caste, while they attempted to put themselves to a needless pain creeping through that needle’s eye.”(Nichols, 1853)

  The presence of a hermitage, and the ‘blind devotion’ of ‘many silly souls’ crawling beneath a rock dedicated to Saint Winifrid, points to this hill top having once being a religious site visited by pilgrims before the Reformation. There are no signs of the hermitage or other features on the hill top today, except perhaps for a rectangular section cut out of the rock near the modern trig point. This appears to be a much worn floor surface, and may be all that survives of the hermitage (or forge?). What became of Saint Winifrid’s Needle is also unknown, it may have been destroyed after the Reformation, or by later quarrying. Another possibility is that the cleft was part of the cliff edge which collapsed after a massive lands slip in 1912. The Chaloner letter notes that there was a danger of people falling to their deaths as they crawled through the ‘Needle’s Eye’, which suggests that it was on the edge of the crag high up on the hill.