Hermit's Cave, John Sparkes, and Thomas de Berkeley blue plaque

This blue commemorative plaque records: Quaker's Burial Ground. Hermit's Cave. This cave was a fourteenth century hermitage. John Sparkes, the first hermit, was installed here in 1346 by Thomas Lord Berkeley, to pray for him and his family. Successive hermits continued to occupy the cave until the seventeenth century. Inside the cave are 177 small Quaker headstones. Several famous Bristol names are represented, including: Alloway, Wall, Ring, Harford, Sturge, Smyth, Grace, Whitworth, Holden, Jennings. The earliest is 1669, the latest is 1923. The youngest was eight months, the oldest was 99 years.

Hermit's Cave served as a continuous place of religious seclusion from the fourteenth to seventeenth century, initially established by Thomas Lord Berkeley for John Sparkes to pray for his family; later, it became a Quaker burial ground containing 177 headstones that commemorate both notable Bristol families and individuals spanning nearly three centuries.