St Robert of Knaresborough
The church is the only Anglican Church in the country dedicated to this saint who was very popular in the middle ages. Robert was born around 1170, the son of Touk Flower, a leading citizen of York.
From childhood he was fascinated with the religious life and, after being ordained a sub-deacon, he went to the Cistercian monastery at Newminster (Northumberland). After only four and a half months he
returned home for a few days before traveling to Knaresborough where he took up residence with a “hermit-knight” in the cave he would later make his own. When the knight departed, Robert took the
patronage of Juliana, a widow living in Knaresborough, who gave him the chapel of St Hilda at Rudfarlington, two miles south of Knaresborough. There he first developed a reputation as a wise and holy man
who cared for the poor. Attacked by thieves he moved to Spofforth (the nearest to Pannal he ever lived) where his reputation grew so great he was overwhelmed by the crowds and retired to a priory at Hedley,
near Tadcaster. There he was too good for the other monks!
He returned to St Hilda’s Chapel where he once again cared for the poor of the area, incurring the wrath of Sir William Stuteville who accused him of harbouring robbers and had his buildings destroyed.
Robert told Stuteville’s servants to “Go back to your lord and tell him that willy, nilly, my resting place will be next to his tower for ever. I am not in the least afraid either of his malice or his
threats. Because the Lord is my protector I have no fear of what man may do to me!” So he returned to Knaresborough and established his hermitage next to the River Nidd.
When Sir William decided to destroy that shelter, he had a nightmare that transformed his view of Robert, so that he begged the hermit’s forgiveness for his ill treatment. Many other stories of Robert
exist both in Latin and Early English verse. One of the most intriguing concerns his complaining about the King’s deer eating his crops. Sir William, making fun of the saint, invites Robert to catch the
offending beasts. Robert not only manages to herd the deer into his barn as if they were a tame flock of sheep, but also harnesses them to his plough and sets them to work repaying the damage they have done!
His brother Walter, now Mayor of York, came and paid for some new buildings, including a chapel dedicated to the Holy Cross. The floor plan of this can still be seen alongside Robert’s cave in Knaresborough today.
In 1216 Robert was visited by King John, who gave him some land for his work with the poor. Robert died on 24th September 1218.
