View source for Earth:Weathercote Cave

{{Short description|Cave in North Yorkshire, England}}
{{Infobox cave
| name = Weathercote Cave
| photo =Weathercote Cave.jpg
| photo_width = 250
| photo_caption=
| map = United Kingdom Yorkshire Dales
| map_width= 250

| map_caption =Location of Weathercote Cave in the Yorkshire Dales
| map_alt =
| location = Chapel-le-Dale, North Yorkshire, [UK]
| coords = {{coord|54.193239|N|2.401085|W|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| grid_ref_UK = SD 7393 7756
| coords_ref = <ref name=nc>{{cite book|last=Brook|first=Dave|title=Northern Caves 2 The Three Peaks|year=1991|publisher=The Dalesman Publishing Company|location=Clapham, via Lancaster|isbn=1855680335|pages=262}}</ref>
| elevation = {{convert|262|m}}<ref name=nc />
| length = {{convert|762|m}}<ref name=nc />
| depth = {{convert|33|m}}<ref name=nc />
| discovery =
| geology = Carboniferous limestone
| entrance_count = 1
| difficulty = III<ref name=nc />
| hazards = water, loose boulders, verticality<ref name=nc />
| access = By prior arrangement<ref>{{cite web|title=Weathercote Cave|url=http://cncc.org.uk/cave/weathercote-cave|publisher=Council of Northern Caving Clubs|accessdate=2 September 2019}}</ref>
| survey =
| survey_format =
}}

'''Weathercote Cave''' is a natural [[Earth:Solutional cave|solutional cave]] in Chapel-le-Dale, North Yorkshire, England. It has been renowned as a natural curiosity since the eighteenth century, and was accessible to paying visitors until 1971. The entrance is a large shaft about {{convert|20|m}} deep, dominated by a waterfall entering at one end. It lies within the designated Ingleborough Site of Special Scientific Interest.<ref>{{cite web|title=Designated Sites View - Ingleborough SSI|url=https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/SiteDetail.aspx?SiteCode=S1001537&SiteName=&countyCode=9&responsiblePerson=|website=Natural England|accessdate=2 April 2017}}</ref>

==Description==

The entrance lies in the floor of the Chapel-le-Dale valley below the Hill Inn, and is enclosed by a substantial wall. A path leads from a doorway in the wall to the open shaft, some {{convert|61|m}} long and up to {{convert|15|m}} wide. The underground Winterscales Beck emerges from a passage at the north end, and falls some {{convert|20|m}} down the shaft. The top of the waterfall is overhung by a massive wedged boulder known as Mohammed's Coffin. The name is an allusion to the legend that through the use of magnets or lodestones, Mohammed's coffin was suspended in mid-air in his tomb in Mecca.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hutton |first1=John |title=A tour to the caves, in the environs of Ingleborough and Settle, in the West-Riding of Yorkshire |date=1780 |publisher=Pennington |location=Kendal |page=27|oclc=220672453}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Mahomet {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/philosophy-and-religion/islam-biographies/mahomet |website=encyclopedia.com |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref>

At the near end of the shaft, a flight of 51 steps descends beneath a natural rock arch, to the bottom, where a number of short passage all lead to sumps, the main one of which has been connected to Jingle Pot, another daylight shaft located {{convert|140|m}} down the valley, and thence to Hurtle Pot, a further {{convert|200|m}} down the valley. The total length of explored passages in the combined system is {{convert|2370|m}}, and the total depth is {{convert|64|m}}. The water can be followed upstream of the waterfall through a series of low aqueous passages and small chambers. When the beck is in full spate, the shaft can fill to the top, and overflow down the valley.<ref name=nc /><ref name=waltham>{{cite book |last1=Waltham |first1=Tony |title=Caves, Crags, and Gorges|date=1984|publisher=Constable and Company |location=London |isbn=0094649707 |pages=62–64 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Balderstone|first1=Robert R|last2=Balderstone|first2=Margaret|title=Book, Ingleton, Bygone and Present|date=1890|publisher=Simpkin, Marshall and Co|location=London|pages=34–36|url=http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/thelakes/html/lgaz/lk12295.htm}}</ref>

==Geology and hydrology==

Weathercote Cave is a [[Earth:Solutional cave|solutional cave]] formed in Visean Great Scar [[Earth:Limestone|limestone]] from the Mississippian Series of the [[Earth:Carboniferous|Carboniferous]] period, and is part of the underground watercourse of Winterscales Beck. Winterscales Beck sinks at Haws Gill Wheel, about {{convert|1000|m}} upstream of Weathercote Cave, and flows through a shallow and largely flooded cave system.<ref name="ckv1">{{cite book |last1=Waters |first1=Colin |last2=Lowe |first2=David |editor1-last=Waltham |editor1-first=Tony |editor2-last=Lowe |editor2-first=David |title=Caves and Karst of the Yorkshire Dales Volume 1 |date=2013 |publisher=British Cave Research Association |location=Great Hucklow, Buxton |isbn=9780900265471 |pages=11–23 |chapter=Geology of the Limestones}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Brook|first1=Dave|editor1-last=Waltham|editor1-first=A.C.|title=Limestones and Caves of North-West England|date=1974|publisher=David & Charles|location=Newton Abbot|isbn=0715361813|page=342}}</ref> When the river reached a major [[Earth:Joint (geology)|cross joint]] at Weathercote, it descended to [[Earth:Base level|base level]]. The roof has since collapsed to form the surface shaft. The underground stream flows through the base of two other surface shafts, Jingle Pot and Hurtle Pot, before resurging at God's Bridge, {{convert|1300|m}} down the valley.<ref name=waltham /> The connection between two of the caves was confirmed in 1770, when a bonnet lost by a woman in Weathercote Cave was later retrieved from Hurtle Pot.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Housman|first1=John|title=A descriptive tour, and guide to the lakes, caves, mountains, and other natural curiosities, in Cumberland, Westmoreland, Lancashire, and a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire|date=1880|publisher=Carlisle|location=Cumbria|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dNNCAAAAYAAJ&q=weathercote+bonnet&pg=PA45|accessdate=15 February 2015}}</ref>

==History==

Weathercote Cave was first described in detail by Richard Pococke who undertook a tour of Yorkshire in 1751. He said that it was ''"one of the most extraordinary and {{notatypo|surprizing}} scenes I have ever beheld"''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cartwright|first1=James Joel|title=The Travels through England of Dr. Richard Pococke |date=1881 |publisher=Camden Society |location=Westminster |page=196 |url=https://archive.org/stream/travelsthroughe01cartgoog#page/n6/mode/2up}}</ref> It was drawn to the public's attention in 1780 by John Hutton in an appendix to Thomas West's "A Guide to the Lakes", who described it as ''"the most surprising natural curiosity in the island of Great Britain"''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=West|first1=Thomas|title=A Guide to the Lakes|date=1780|publisher=Richardson & Urquhart|location=London|pages=253–255|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7m5bAAAAQAAJ&q=Yordas}}</ref> Thereafter, it became a destination for those seeking the picturesque, and is featured in most later guide books of the area. J. M. W. Turner visited the cave in 1808, and made a number of sketches and painted a view from the bottom, and in 1816 he returned when he painted the view from the top when the river was in spate.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hill|first1=David|title=Weathercote Cave, near Ingleton, Full of Water 1816|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-weathercote-cave-near-ingleton-full-of-water-r1143630|publisher=Tate Gallery|accessdate=15 February 2015}}</ref> In 1818, William Westall produced a book of aquatinted engraved views of Yorkshire which included five views of Weathercote Cave.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Westall|first1=William|title=Views of the caves near Ingleton, Gordal Scar, and Malham Cove, in Yorkshire|date=1818|publisher=John Murray|location=London}}</ref> In 1835, [[Biography:William Wordsworth|Wordsworth]] described it as a ''"fine object"''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wordsworth|first1=William|title=A Guide Through the District of the Lakes in the North of England|date=1835|publisher=Hudson & Nicholson|location=Kendall|edition=5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dPYGAAAAQAAJ&q=Wordsworth+weathercote&pg=PA2|accessdate=15 February 2015}}</ref> By 1858 at the latest, tourists were paying for the privilege of visiting the site,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Rudd|first1=Michael|title=The picturesque and landscape appreciation the development of tourism in the Yorkshire dales & county durham 1750- 1860|url=http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/6256/1/6256_3611.PDF?UkUDh:CyT|website=Durham E-Theses|publisher=University of Durham|accessdate=15 February 2015}}</ref> and in 1875 [[Biography:John Ruskin|John Ruskin]] described it as "''the rottenest — deadliest— loveliest — horriblest place I ever saw in my life"''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ruskin |first1=John|editor1-last=Cook |editor1-first=E.T. |editor2-last=Wedderburn |editor2-first=Alexander |title=The Complete Works of John Ruskin - Vol: XXXVII|date=1909|publisher=George Allen|location=London|page=181|url=https://archive.org/stream/worksofjohnruski37rusk/worksofjohnruski37rusk_djvu.txt|accessdate=10 November 2016}}</ref> In 1971, John Fellows, a visiting caver, died after being struck by a falling rock, and since then access has been restricted.<ref>{{cite journal|title=John Fellows|journal=Northern Pennine Club Newsletter|date=August 1971}}</ref> The underwater connection with Jingle Pot was made in April 1986 by members of the Cave Diving Group.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=B.J.|title=Jingle Pot - 26 April 1986|journal=Cave Diving Group Newsletter|date=July 1986|issue=80|page=7}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-weathercote-cave-t04484 Turner's 1816 drawing on the Tate website]
*[https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/search?keyword=Weathercote Index to the British Museum's online copies of William Westall's engravings of Weathercote Cave]
*[https://earthwise.bgs.ac.uk/index.php/Harold_Wadsworth_Haywood_-_Leeds_Cave_Club_photograph_albums#Weathercote_Cave Harold Haywood's photographs of Weathercote Cave taken in the early 1930s held by the British Geological Survey]

[[Category:Wild caves]]
[[Category:Limestone caves]]

{{Sourceattribution|Weathercote Cave}}