254 CELLS AND HERMITAGES IN WORCESTERSHIRE. Nov., 1892. 
the abode of the early ascetic, but a set of apartments 
showing a somewhat advanced type of hermitage. It is cut 
in a solid rock, to which entrance is gained by a low doorway 
into what was probably the kitchen, which has for a chimney 
a circular hole cut perpendicularly through the rock; another 
apartment was evidently used as a chapel, and there are 
likewise a pantry, with a chamber over, an inner room, 
closets with a loft over, a study with shelves cut for books, 
and another opening in the rock, either for a belfry or 
chimney. Small and rudely cut openings in the rock served 
for windows. In front of the cell is a seat cut in the 
rock, from whence the hermit looked down on the Severn 
(which then ran closer to the rock than it does now), and 
invoked a blessing on the traffickers up and down, and in 
return received the coppers of the boatmen. There is a 
tradition that in more modern times this cave was used by 
smugglers, and still later as a cider-making house. 
Southstone Rock, near Stanford, was another retreat of this 
kind, having cells hewn in the stone, with steps once leading 
to a chapel on the summit, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, 
at the festival of whose nativity there was a general offering 
from devout persons, who ascended the stairs to deposit in the 
chapel their gifts in a brazen dish kept for the purpose. This 
dish (engraved in Nash’s “ Worcestershire ”) was preserved 
at Stanford Court till about the year 1807, when it was 
supposed to have been stolen during some repairs at the 
Court. The rock is nearly 200ft. above the Teme, and having 
become split by the action of the water, the hermits’ cells 
and the chapel have disappeared. A fuller description of this 
relic, from the pen of the late Sir T. Winnington, will be found 
in the Worcester Architectural Society's volume for 1868. 
At Redstone, in a rock by the Severn, in the parish of 
Astley, is a still more important specimen of the mediaeval 
hermitage, which was said to be “ a place of great resort for' 
devotees of high quality in Papal times,” and concerning 
which Bishop Latimer expressed much apprehension on 
account of its capacity for concealing large numbers of thieves 
or traitors. This rock dwelling was afterwards turned into 
an ale-house, and in the present century a school was kept in 
a part of the rock ! The entrance to the hermitage was 
through what is called the chapel; and an arched passage 
with openings at the sides led to the dormitories (afterwards 
formed into dwellings), and to the right was the refectory. 
Over the doorway was an opening, reached by some steps 
from the interior, from which, according to tradition, the 
monk or hermit would pi ay for the safety of passengers 
crossing the ferry. 
There are also caves, which may have been hermits’ cells, 
