Caves & grottoes

51 places across Britain and Ireland

• Aillwee CaveThe Burren, County Clare · A cave found by a farmer chasing his dog, with bear bones inside.
• Bacon HoleSouthgate, Gower · A sea cave with bones of elephants, and mysterious red stripes.
• Beer Quarry CavesBeer, Devon · A man-made cavern where stone for cathedrals was cut by hand.
• Blue John CavernCastleton, Derbyshire · Home of a rare purple and yellow stone found nowhere else on Earth.
• Clearwell CavesForest of Dean, Gloucestershire · Iron mines worked since the Stone Age, and still worked today.
• Crag CaveCastleisland, County Kerry · A cave discovered by divers in the 1980s.
• Dan yr OgofBrecon Beacons, Powys · Explored by two brothers with candles and a coracle.
• Doolin CaveDoolin, County Clare · Home of one of the longest free-hanging stalactites in the world.
• Dunmore CaveNear Kilkenny · A Viking massacre, and silver hidden in a crevice for 1,000 years.
• Gaping GillIngleborough, North Yorkshire · A shaft 98 metres deep, with England's tallest unbroken waterfall.
• Gilmerton CoveGilmerton, Edinburgh · Hand-carved rooms under a street, and nobody knows who made them.
• Hawkstone Park GrottoWeston-under-Redcastle, Shropshire · Dark tunnels, a grotto and a hermit who was paid to live there.
• King Arthur's CaveNear Symonds Yat, Herefordshire · A cave of mammoth bones and hyena dens, named after Arthur.
• King's CaveIsle of Arran · Where Robert the Bruce is said to have watched a spider try, try again.
• Kinver Edge Rock HousesKinver, Staffordshire · Homes carved into a sandstone cliff, lived in until the 1960s.
• Kirkdale CaveNear Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire · A hyena den that changed how scientists saw the past.
• Llechwedd Slate CavernsBlaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd · Victorian slate caverns deep under a mountain.
• Lud's ChurchNear Gradbach, Staffordshire · A mossy chasm where outlaws worshipped and a Green Knight waited.
• MacKinnon's CaveGribun, Isle of Mull · A piper went in with his dog, and only the dog came back.
• Marble Arch CavesNear Enniskillen, County Fermanagh · An underground river explored by boat.
• Merlin's CaveTintagel, Cornwall · A sea cave beneath Tintagel Castle, linked to Merlin and the infant Arthur.
• Mitchelstown CaveNear Cahir, County Tipperary · Found by a labourer quarrying for stone.
• Ogof Ffynnon DduPenwyllt, Powys · The deepest cave in the UK.
• Owain Glyndŵr's CaveMoel Hebog, Gwynedd · A cleft in a cliff where the rebel prince hid.
• Oweynagat, the Cave of the CatsRathcroghan, County Roscommon · Ireland's gateway to the Otherworld.
• Peak CavernCastleton, Derbyshire · Britain's largest cave entrance, nicknamed the Devil's Arse.
• Poole's CavernBuxton, Derbyshire · An outlaw's hideout that Mary, Queen of Scots once visited.
• Porth yr OgofNear Ystradfellte, Powys · Wales's biggest cave mouth, where a river disappears.
• Prince Charlie's CaveElgol, Isle of Skye · The prince's last hiding place on Skye.
• Raitts CaveNear Kingussie, Badenoch · An underground passage where thieves hid, said legend.
• Scott's GrottoWare, Hertfordshire · Twisting tunnels decorated with shells, flints and glass.
• Smoo CaveDurness, Sutherland · A giant sea cave with a waterfall thundering inside it.
• Spar CaveNear Elgol, Isle of Skye · A sea cave of white flowstone, reached only at low tide.
• Speedwell CavernCastleton, Derbyshire · An underground boat trip through a miners' tunnel to a 'bottomless pit'.
• St Clement's CavesWest Hill, Hastings, East Sussex · Smugglers' caves under the hill above Hastings.
• St Cuthbert's CaveNear Belford, Northumberland · Where monks fleeing the Vikings rested with the saint's coffin.
• St Kevin's BedUpper Lake, Glendalough, County Wicklow · A tiny cave in the cliff where a saint hid from the world.
• St Ninian's CavePhysgill, near Whithorn · A saint's retreat where pilgrims carved crosses.
• St Robert's CaveKnaresborough, North Yorkshire · A hermit's cave where a murder victim's skeleton was found.
• Stump Cross CavernsNear Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire · A cave where the bones of wolverines and reindeer were found.
• The Caves of KeashKeshcorran, County Sligo · Caves where a king was raised by a she-wolf.
• The City of CavesNottingham · Over 800 caves carved under a city.
• The Crystal GrottoPainshill Park, Cobham, Surrey · A cave glittering with thousands of crystals.
• The Dwarfie StaneRackwick valley, Hoy, Orkney · A tomb carved out of a single giant block of stone.
• The Grotto at StourheadStourton, Wiltshire · A sleeping nymph and a river god in a cave by the lake.
• The Hermit's CaveCratcliffe Tor, Derbyshire · A medieval hermit's shelter with a crucifix carved in the rock.
• The Sculptor's CaveCovesea, Moray · A sea cave with Pictish carvings and a grim secret.
• The Wemyss CavesEast Wemyss, Fife · Coastal caves with carvings made by the Picts.
• Thor's CaveManifold Valley, Staffordshire · A huge cave mouth high on a limestone crag.
• Victoria CaveNear Settle, North Yorkshire · Found on Queen Victoria's coronation day, full of hippo bones.
• White Scar CaveIngleton, North Yorkshire · Found by a student, with one of Britain's largest caverns.