Dale's story begins with the hermit. He was originally a baker, living in Derby around 1130, and a devout Christian. One day he had a vision of the Virgin Mary, who told him to go and live in Depedale (the old name for Dale) and worship God there in solitude. The baker promptly abandoned everything he had and set out for Depedale, not knowing where it was. He was walking through through Stanley village when he heard

He carved a cave out from the rock of the hillside, lived in the eastern end and used the western end as a chapel.  Some time later the local nobleman was out hunting in the forest and seeing smoke coming from the cave, went off to investigate. When he heard the hermit's story, he took pity on his poverty and gave him a small income. Shortly afterwards the hermit found a spring (still known as the Hermit's Well), built a small chapel nearby, and stayed there the rest of his life. His reputation as a holy man must have spread, for a lady who became known as the 'Gome' or godmother of the Dale settled there and built on to the hermit's chapel. A bit of her building can still be found in the present church.
  The original hermit was followed by a succession of holy men, living in relative solitude and worshipping God in the little chapel in Depedale.  At around this time another vision concerning Depedale was seen, this time by a 'most notorious outlaw'. This story, like so much of Dale's early history, is related in a chronicle written in the thirteenth century by a Dale Abbey canon. He tells us that the outlaw saw: a golden cross standing on the site where the church (the Abbey) is now built, whose top touched the Heavens, while the ends of its arms extended to the bounds of the earth on either side. The whole world shone in the greatness of its splendour. He also saw men coming from several nations and adoring that cross most devotedly'. The outlaw told his companions what he had seen, and added: 'Indeed, my most beloved friends, that vale which you see below us and the place adjoining this hill, are holy. The Lord is indeed in this place,' he said, 'and I did not know it. The sons who will be born and who wll grow up, will tell to their sons the great deeds which the Lord has performed in that vale. That vale' he said, 'will be whitened, full and pleasant with the sweet flowers of the virtues. Just as it has been revealed to me, they will come from several nations to worship the Lord in that vale and will serve Him for a succession of ages until the end of time.'