The Hermitage
The Hermitage, Southgate
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1135427
- Date first listed:
- 15-Nov-1988
- List Entry Name:
- The Hermitage
- Statutory Address:
- The Hermitage, Southgate
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Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1135427
- Date first listed:
- 15-Nov-1988
- List Entry Name:
- The Hermitage
- Statutory Address 1:
- The Hermitage, Southgate
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- The Hermitage, Southgate
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Wakefield (Metropolitan Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SE 45667 21793
Details
This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 6 September 2021 to reformat text to current standards
SE 4521 NE
8/61
PONTEFRACT
SOUTHGATE (south side)
The Hermitage
I
Hermitage. 1386. By Adam de Laythorpe and his son Robert. Hewn out of carboniferous sandstone. Situated below ground under what is now Pontefract General Infirmary. There are two chambers, side by side but on different levels, out of the lower one leads a short passage to a spiral staircase descending vertically to a well. The chamber to the west, known as the Oratory is thought to be the later of the two, and contains a fireplace with a rock-hewn flue, with a low stool next to it, a bench, and a bed shelf. In the centre is a large C19 brick pier. Access is through a pointed-arched doorway, probably reused in C19 from the nearby site of the Priory of St Richard, founded in 1256. The eastern chamber is entered by an original basket-arched doorway, rebated for a door and bolt-holes. From it a barrel-vaulted passage leads to the staircase of 72 steps, with clearly-marked pick/hammer chisel marks. There are four candle niches. Near the bottom is a has relief figure of Death, a skeleton with prominent rib-cage and foreshortened legs, carrying a spear. (There is a third chamber, no longer visible, said to have the letters "DITIS" carved on the lintel). At the bottom is a basin filled with water, this being the water-table. Outside the doorway are late C15 window heads, probably from the Priory Church of St Richard. In front of the Hermitage are three C19 Tudor-arched brick doorways. The security devices protecting the well are thought to have been intended to prevent the holy water being taken for withcraft. Pontefract is known to have had a hermit in the early C13, and the tradition seems to have continued for about three centuries.
Listing NGR: SE4566721793
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 342700
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 07-Jun-2026 at 02:08:19.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.