The Hermit of Warkworth

Legends of the North brings you The Hermit of Warkworth by Bishop Thomas Percy, a legendary tale told by an old hermit in his dwelling carved out of a rock face near the town of Warkworth. While the story is mostly fiction, the hermitage is a real place and may be visited from spring to autumn by taking a short boat trip up the River Coquet.

 

The mighty Warkworth Castle mentioned in this story is open to the public and is still in the hands of the Percy family of old, aka the Dukes of Northumberland. ‘Fair Warkworth lifts her lofty towers and overlooks the sea’.  The castle grounds, like the hermitage, can be visited from spring to autumn. This story mentions the most famous Percy of all, Sir Harry Hotspur of whom there is a statue in Alnwick town and another in the grounds of Alnwick Castle. In Shakespeare's play 'Henry IV' there are scenes set in Warkworth Castle and Harry Hotspur is one of the main characters.

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Henry IV Part 2 Shakespeare 

RUMOUR

I run before King Harry's victory;
Who in a bloody field by Shrewsbury
Hath beaten down young Hotspur and his troops,
Quenching the flame of bold rebellion...

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This have I rumour'd through the peasant towns
Between that royal field of Shrewsbury
And this worm-eaten hold of ragged stone,
Where Hotspur's father, old Northumberland,
Lies crafty-sick

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