CHEDDAR CAVES

There are many mostly small caves in Cheddar Gorge, but the two largest, Gough's Cave and Cox's Cave are open to the public. Gough's Cave, discovered by Richard Gough in 1898, was formed by the ancestral River Yeo over 120 000 years ago.

The show cave follows the former route of the underground river through several well decorated chambers. The underground river has now found a new lower route, discovered by cave divers in 1985, and emerges to daylight at Cheddar Risings.

Just inside the entrance remains of several human skeletons, including the 9000-year-old Cheddar Man, were found along with many other archaeological artifacts.

Cox's Cave was discovered by George Cox in 1837 and contains many stalactites and stalagmites. Several other small caves exist in the cliffs above, remnants of earlier courses of the underground River Yeo, long since abandoned by down-cutting of the gorge. Many are home to roosting and hibernating bats, including significant numbers of the greater horseshoe bat.