Father Foote’s Cave is a smaller sandstone hollow in Moor Park, a short walk from Mother Ludlam’s. Tucked beside the River Wey and shaded by roots and branches, it feels like a quiet pocket of time. The opening is modest, yet the story attached to it is anything but small.

In the 1830s a travelling tailor called William Foote took rough shelter near this spot. Winter bit hard, work was scarce, and neighbours sometimes shared what little they had. In January 1840 he was found near death and carried to a nearby cottage, where he died that evening. An inquest recorded starvation and exposure. Newspapers called him a “modern hermit” and preserved a line that still moves people, “Take me to the cave again.”

After his death the name Father Foote’s Cave settled into local use, marking a place where hardship, charity and memory meet. Visitors notice how the sandstone catches light, how water sounds different here, how close the past can feel when you stand in the doorway and look back toward the path.

Today the cave remains a quiet landmark. Come for the story and the setting, tread kindly, and carry the memory forward.