Humphrey Kynaston’s Cave

During an excursion into Shropshire and North Wales, in the summer of 1820, the extraordinary natural curiosity of Kynaston’s Cave was pointed out to me, as one of those singular and wild spots which is visited by every traveller who goes in quest of romantic scenery and legendary lore, with which not only North Wales, but every part of Shropshire abounds. The tradition which belongs to this Cave suggested the idea of forming a tale on the subject; but the remote period in which the events occurred that marked the life of Sir Humphry Kynaston, the author hopes will plead her excuse for an imperfect sketch formed on the slender materials obligingly supplied by Mr. Dovaston of West Felton, finding it impossible to trace from any authority the characters and names of Sir Humphry’s associates.

This I found to be Ness Cliff; the famous spot within whose cold bosom dwelt the out-law, Sir Humphrey Kynaston. The situation of Ness Cliff is extremely romantic; and commands from its most elevated point a vast extent of country, wildly diversified by the towering mountains of Montgomeryshire, whose spiral summits often veil themselves in the clouds.

On reaching the part of the rock which was marked by no particular projection, but appeared to be one even mass of stone, the retreat of the robber was discerned by a high flight of stone steps, half broken and worn away, which led to a door, made of late years by the solitary inhabitant; for in former ages the entrance into the cave was through an aperture, sufficient only to admit Kynaston and his faithful horse. A hole, containing a pane of glass, answered the purpose of a window; throwing sufficient light within to show the dreariness of this extraordinary human habitation.

We immediately gained admittance within. Here the appearance of romance was at an end. The old woman who showed the cave, by no means identified the haggard witch, weird sister, we looked for in a place so lonely and so wild.

The old woman was dressed in the plain homely garb of her country; and spoke to us with the natural civility of a person, who expects to be rewarded for their trouble. She was, however, ready and apt in the history of Sir Humphrey Kynaston, which she had related, probably, a thousand times. She presented us with a small ballad, which is told with pleasing simplicity and truth, by Mr. Dovaston, of Westfelton.

I examined the cave with much interest and attention. It is of a circular form, from fifteen to twenty feet in dimensions. This rugged and unshapen mass of solid rock, most curiously so recedes within, as to form a cavity, sufficient to contain in the upper and lower compartment, the beds of the old woman and her son: originally the nightly shelter, and place of repose, for Kynaston and his horse. Here he lived, and here he expired, as the wall bears date, in the year 1564. The present inhabitants of this savage dwelling have supplied themselves, not only with every necessary piece of furniture, but also with the means of subsistence. The young man, by occupation a cobbler, was seated in the midst of his tools and straps, busily at work; singing as he went on, for "want of thought."

Elizabeth Isabella Spence (1822): Old Stories, Monthly Censor, JAS, 1822 online

...Humphrey Kynaston the Wild, who during his outlawry, in the reign of Henry VII. was the inhabitant of the cave, in the bold sandstone rock at Ness Cliff, called after him Kynaston’s Cave, and concerning whose feats many an old wife’s tale is still current in Shropshire.

Lady Charlotte Guest (1877): The Mabinogion, The Dream Of Rhonabwy, p. 319.
Sir Humphrey Kynaston is mentioned in the footnotes to the chapter The Dream of Rhonabwy.