Perhaps you have been to Mother Shipton’s cave in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, but do you know anything about Mother Shipton’s life and legacy?

Much of her story is steeped in legend and folklore; it is hard to be sure what is true and what is not. However, there are many sources that do indicate she was a real person.

The birth of Ursula

Not much is known about her parents. But it is said that her mother was called Agatha. Agatha was just 15 years old when she gave birth to her only daughter, Ursula.

Controversy surrounded Ursula before she was even born; her mother, who was said to be an orphan herself, refused to name the father, even when she was put before magistrates.

Because Agatha refused to name the father, it led many to speculate that she was a witch and her daughter was the devil’s child. As a result, she was outcasted.

A pregnant Agatha ventured into the forest and settled in a cave near the banks of the River Nidd in Knaresborough. The cave is where Ursula Sontheil was born in 1488, supposedly during a storm.

Ursula and her mother lived in the cave until the Abbot of Beverley took pity on them. A local family took Ursula in. Sadly, Agatha was sent to a nunnery, where she passed away some years later. She never saw her daughter again.

Early years and the makings of a herbalist

Sadly, due to the controversy surrounding her birth and possibly the way she looked, a young Ursula was picked on and spent a lot of time alone. Much of this time was spent in the forest and the cave where she was born. She studied herbs and flowers, and this enabled her to devise potions and remedies.

Marriage and the rise of Mother Shipton

Her knowledge did help her become a little more integrated within the community. When she was 24, she met a man of the same age, called Tobias Shipton. Tobias was a carpenter from York.  The pair married and she became Ursula Shipton.  The community was quite surprised by this marriage and believed that Ursula had cast a spell on her new husband!

Sadly, two years later, Tobias died. Of course, whispers began to swirl around that Ursula had something to do with the death of her husband. This caused her to flee once again to the cave.

Ursula continued to study herbal remedies, and local people would come to her not only for remedies but also for answers to difficult questions they had. It was at this time that she became known as Mother Shipton.

Prophecies

Mother Shipton not only began to make predictions for the local community but the world around her.

The earliest publication about Mother Shipton is the anonymously penned 1641 pamphlet entitled ‘The Prophesie of Mother Shipton in the Raigne of King Henry the Eighth, fortelling the death of Cardinal Wolsey, etc.’. In this publication, she predicts Thomas Wolsey’s fate and death after he had fallen out of favour with King Henry V111 when he was unable to secure a divorce from Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn.

Her name and predictions became so popular that she was mentioned in a few other sources. Henry V111 wrote a letter to the Duke of Norfolk in which he refers to a “witch of York”. Is this a reference to Mother Shipton? We could never know for sure.

Even Diarist Samuel Pepys mentions Mother Shipton after her prediction of the great fire of London. Declaring that ‘Shipton’s word is out’.

Her standing was undoubtedly altered by her accurate prediction of Cardinal Wolsey’s demise and Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries.

It is said that Mother Shipton died at the age of 73, in 1561.  It was after her death that writers began to fill in the gaps in her life.

what did Ursula look like?

During Ursula’s lifetime, witchcraft was highly feared, and anyone who appeared unusual was suspected of being a witch. Back then, fake news was just as prevalent as it is today. Consider the myth of Anne Boleyn having webbed hands! She was also referred to as a witch. It is therefore not surprising that there are stories about Ursula being an odd and peculiar-looking woman.

We can not know for sure what she looked like, but every account of her generally described her as having a twisted body and a large crooked nose.

By all accounts, I think she was a strong woman and someone to be admired. Perhaps we could learn a lot from her.

While I was researching the story of Mother Shipton, I remembered a book I had read over ten years ago called The Source: A Manual of Everyday Magic by Ursula James. It contains channelled teachings from Mother Shipton. I have recently read my copy again. It’s really interesting, and I recommend it. Get your copy here.