Redstone Hermitage is of great antiquity. Official recognition and protection was granted to it in 1160. It lies in the parish of Areley, and the parish church contains a memorial to Layamon, the famous monk of the 12th century, who tradition has it, dwelt at the Hermitage of Redstone, and who was the author of A Chronicle of British History - and the first poet to sing of Arthur and his times in English verse. During the restoration of the church in 1885, fragments of stone were discovered under the Norman portion of the building, which when put together were found to read: 'Temore Layamanni Santi' They now form the base of the font in use in the church.
The Hermitage is cut in a great sandstone cliff, and contains the remains of a rock-hewn chapel and a gallery of dormitories. In 1431, the Bishop of Worcester licensed Richard Spetchley to be a hermit here, and there were no doubt that during the Papal times the caves were the resort of persons of high quality, for over the entrance to the chapel were carvings of the Royal Arms, between those of Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, and those of Mortimer.
The Hermitage is about half-a-mile across the Severn from Hartlebury Castle, the seat of the Bishop of Worcester, and when Bishop Latimer lived there, at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, he wrote to Thomas Cromwell:
'Hereby is an Hermitage in a rock by the Severn, able to lodge 500 men and as ready for thieves or traitors as true men. I would not have hermits masters of such dens, but rather that some faithful man had it'.
Bishop Latimer of Hartlebury Castle
Thomas Habington (1606-1647) described the Chapel from personal observation. Over an altar was a painting of an Archbishop saying Mass, and lines declaring nan indulgence for such as frequented the hermitage with devotion. He also mentioned a source of the hermit's income, that those navigating barges in medieval times were accustomed to make offerings at the shrine. The custom continued long afterwards, for when the river was low, many a barge was grounded on the dangerous rock bar at that place, and the watermen through superstition, never failed to give alms or some of their commodities in charity and in exchange for a blessing.
The entrance to the hermitage was gained through a chapel, to the left of which is a long passage, with openings at the side, forming a gallery along the face of the rock. Over the entrance doorway, and under the remains of carving, appeared to be a opening which formed the access to an outdoor pulpit, from which preachers would address the people and pray for the safety of passengers crossing the ford. Originally there were steps inside the entrance of the chapel which led to the pulpit, but these with the carvings had suffered considerable of late years. In the caves, various massive fireplaces with chimneys bored through the rock to the heights above, and cupboards and niches cut into the rocks. In 1736, the bodies of seven or eight hermits were found were buried below the caves.
The building of Lincomb Weir altered the appearance of the river here, and obliterated the Redstone Crossing, the most famous natural crossing on the Severn. It was here that the magnificent, but sad procession escorting the body of Prince Arthur, the elder brother of Henry VIII, crossed on its way to burial in Worcester Cathedral.
In the 18th century, Dr. Nash stated that the caves were used as a cider house and a school. They were also used as an iron store for the Shelsley Forge and by smugglers. Many were used as cottages.
The Revd. J.L. Molliott of Abberley records a curious tradition that the hermits used to rescue unwanted infants which had been set adrift on the river in baskets (coracles) from Bewdley Bridge. The hermits baptized these children and brought them up within the community, and always christened them Severne. In the Abberley church register of 1741 there appears the curious name Dalarivers Severne. A family of Severne held the rectory for 82 years. The caves were used by pea pickers and other wanderers, and in 1919 , a funfair called 'Joyland' was set up there. The greatest damage to the Hermitage came with the building of a large housing estate nearby.