Hero
The Stride and the Hermit
One leap from tower to tower, legend says.
See it clearly
- What's there
- Gritstone towers and a small fenced cave
- Legend from
- Legend; medieval hermitage
- Tone
- Curious
Robin Hood leapt between these rock towers. Below, a hermit carved Christ on the cave wall.
Robin Hood's Stride, also called Mock Beggar's Mansion, is a gritstone outcrop near Elton beside the old Portway. Its name comes from a legend that Robin Hood leapt between its two rock chimneys. Across the field at Cratcliffe Tor is the Hermit's Cave, a rock shelter with a roughly carved crucifix that Derbyshire's Historic Environment Record dates to the 13th or 14th century. The cave is a scheduled monument. Together the two outcrops make a small landscape of outlaw and hermit lore, set among boulders, woods and an old four-stone circle.