Wookey Hole Cave / Rock Shelter View all content for Wookey Hole

Details of Cave on Pastscape Wookey Hole Cave represents the upper course of the River Axe, and has been extensively developed in the 19th and 20th centuries as a show cave. Originally, the cave comprised a small entrance way and a tunnel circa 85 metres in length, which led to four chambers. Three of these are partly occupied by the River Axe. The fourth is submerged, but was examined in the 1970s. The cave has been excavated on a number of occasions. Casual finds were made by Buckland during visits in the 1820s. William Boyd Dawkins conducted an investigations of sorts in the later 19th century. HE Balch intermittently undertook excavations during the first half of the 20th century, and some minor excavation has occurred as recently as the 1970s. The bulk of finds belong to the Iron Age and Roman periods. Finds include pottery, Iron Age and Roman coins (including a possible hoard), and numerous other objects including an ear ring, finger rings, a spoon, an ear scoop, spindle whorls and so on. A considerable quantity of human remains have also been recovered, including a cemetery of Romano-British date excavated in the 4th chamber in 1973-7. At least 28 individuals were present in the cemetery, accompanied by pottery, coins and other items. Investigation of the river bed in 1947-9 by divers produced Romano-British bowls and lead ewers, part of an 11th-12th century cooking pot, and two late 17th century glass bottles.

Posted by Chance 18th April 2015ce

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