St Cuthbert's Cave, Holburn
St Cuthbert's Cave or Cuddy's Cave is a natural sandstone cave in Northumberland; one of two of the same name in Northumberland which have been traditionally associated with St Cuthbert, the seventh century Anglo-Saxon monk, bishop and hermit.
The Holburn cave is near st Cuthbert's monastery, Lindisfarne. It is found in the Kyloe Hills near Holburn, between Belford and Lowick. The woodlands and cave are the property of the National Trust.[1] The cave is formed of overhanging rock, sufficiently large to provide shelter for a small group.[2]
Legend of St Cuthbert
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in 875 as the Danes ravaged Lindisfarne and
"... destroyed all the monasteries. Eardulf, bishop of Lindisfarne, and abbot Eadred, taking the body of St Cuthbert from the island of Lindisfarne, wandered about for seven years."
According to legend, these caves might have been among the places in which either the monks took shelter with their holy relic or where Cuthbert himself lived as an anchorite hermit before moving to the Farne Islands.[3][4]
References
- ↑ St Cuthbert's Cave. illustrated description of a circular walk from Belford
- ↑ Cutherbert's Cave – Showcaves.com
- ↑ Colgrave 1985, p. 324
- ↑ Raine 1828, p. 21
- Raine, James (1828), Saint Cuthbert: With an Account of the State in which His Remains Were Found Upon the Opening of his tomb in Durham in the year 1827, G. Andrews, http://www.archive.org/details/saintcuthbertwi00raingoog
- Tate, George (1865), The ancient British sculptured rocks of Northumberland and the eastern borders: with notices of the remains associated with these sculptures, H.H. Blair
- Colgrave, Bertram (1985), Two Lives of St. Cuthbert, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521313858