Case file · Folklore / legend
Mother Shipton's Cave
A cave by the River Nidd at Knaresborough, Yorkshire, said to be the birthplace of the prophetess Mother Shipton, whose 'prophecies' were first printed in 1641.
1641 CE · 54.00, -1.47 · status: legend
The account
Later biographies by Richard Head (1667) and others said Ursula Southeil was born in the cave in a thunderstorm around 1488, hideously ugly, and foretold events across Tudor England. Richard Head's 1684 edition added many invented prophecies. The nearby Petrifying Well, whose mineral water turns objects to stone, was taken as proof of her magic.
The sceptical view
The first prophecies appeared 80 years after her supposed death, and many famous ones were later forgeries. The petrifying effect is calcite deposition.