A day trip to Scott’s Grotto and the town of Ware

A former Roman town in Hertfordshire that later became an important coaching stop and source of the New River, Ware is a town of contrasts and one with a significant reason to visit.

Scott’s Grotto

Up on the hills on the opposite side of the railway from the main town is the main reason to visit Ware — the UK’s most extensive shell-lined grotto.

Built by, or at least on the orders of, the Quaker poet John Scott, around the late 1760s-early 1770s, the grotto delves deep into the hillside, with several passages leading to rooms that were later given rather fanciful names.

It was opened to visitors almost immediately and became a bit of a tourist attraction in the 19th century. However, it was nearly demolished in the 1960s when housing developments wanted to clear the land. Saved by the local council in 1974, this is its 50th anniversary under permanent council ownership.

In the 1990s, the entrance, which had been demolished in the 1960s, was rebuilt – and now, once a week, you can visit the Grotto that Scott would have recognised some 260 years ago.

Having paid the nominal £2 entry fee, after a bit of an introduction, you’re left to wander the grotto as you want—with a recommendation to go clockwise so that a particularly grand chamber is the final reward.

The grotto is unlit, and they recommend you bring a torch if you don’t want the light on your phone. I forgot, but they have spares. The corridors are narrow and delightfully spooky. Although mostly lined with flint stone and shells, one long curving corridor is undecorated. The small rooms are, well, quite small, but a delight to stand in or sit in the little niches in the walls.

There are also air shafts in the grotto to peer along or up. However, after maybe 10-15 minutes of exploration, you come to the grand chamber, which, apart from the impressive shell decorations, is also the only room to be lit, and grandly so.

You’re not done, though — as there’s a gazebo to see in the grounds above the grotto and lots of woollen knitted animals dotted around the garden.

It’s a wonderous place to visit, and Scott’s Grotto is open on Saturdays and Bank Holiday Mondays from 2pm to 4.30pm between 1st  April and 30th September.

It costs £2 per adult, and children are free, which is frankly a bargain for what it is.

Details are here.

The rest of Ware

The museum aside, the rest of Ware is mainly seen from the outside, but you can easily spend an hour wandering around the town centre.

The museum is free to visit and is very much a local museum, so expect a lot of bones, pottery, and local industrial history. There’s a bit here about the famous Great Bed of Ware, a massive thing that could sleep 10 people and was probably built as a showpiece by a carpenter. The bed itself isn’t here—it’s in London.

What this museum has that few others have though is an air-raid shelter. Around the back and down some steps and into the curved ceiling room that would once have protected people from enemy bombs.

As you wander around the rest of the town, notice the helpful area maps which point out the 20 or so things to look out for, from the old churches to the Blue Statue and the oldest building in Ware. There’s also a lot of blue plaques telling the history of the buildings they’re on.

The main church in the town centre is opposite the museum and was open on my early afternoon visit for a look around. There are also a lot more churches to the east of the main town centre, especially along New Road, which is worth wandering up to see the town’s former workhouses.

A cruciform building, it’s now residential, so probably private, but I didn’t see anyone glaring at me as I wandered around.

Back in the town centre, there’s the statue of the maltmaker, installed in 2000 and a reminder of one of the towns lost industrial strengths.

One of the town’s other claims to fame is the longest line of gazebos fronting onto a river anywhere in the UK. Most were built in the 18th and 19th centuries, allowing local homeowners to admire the riverside without the inconvenience of sitting outside. Most fell into ruin in the 20th century because it was assumed a road would be built along the riverside. When that didn’t happen, most were restored in the 1980s, giving the riverside a rather picturesque feel.

Having arrived before Scott’s Grotto opened, I comfortably spent 90 minutes or so wandering around town and could have probably stretched it to 2 hours, but that would be about the limit.

It’s a small but historic and interesting town to visit, and you still have Scott’s Grotto to see.

Getting to Ware

It’s about 45 minutes from Liverpool Street station (via Tottenham Hale) on the Greater Anglia line.

I stopped off at Rye House en route. If you aren’t using any railcards or concessions, the stations along this route all accept TfL contactless payments, so there is no need to buy a train ticket.