Hermit's Cave

place and cave

Aged unknown

Commemorated on 1 plaque

Quaker's Burial Ground. Hermit's Cave. This cave was a fourteenth century hermitage. John Sparkes, the first hermit, was installed here in 1346 by Thomas Lord Berkeley, to pray for him and his family. Successive hermits continued to occupy the cave until the seventeenth century. Inside the cave are 177 small Quaker headstones. Several famous Bristol names are represented, including: Alloway, Wall, Ring, Harford, Sturge, Smyth, Grace, Whitworth, Holden, Jennings. The earliest is 1669, the latest is 1923. The youngest was eight months, the oldest was 99 years.

Quaker Burial Ground, Radcliffe Way, Bristol, United Kingdom where it sited