Gaping Gill | |
---|---|
Location | Ingleborough, North Yorkshire, England |
OS grid | SD 75117270[1] |
Coordinates | 54°08′58″N 2°22′57″W / 54.14956°N 2.382489°W |
Depth | 192 metres (630 ft)[2] |
Length | 21 kilometres (13 mi) (including Ingleborough Cave)[2] |
Geology | Carboniferous limestone |
Entrances | 21[1] |
Access | Ingleborough Estate Office |
BRAC grade | 4 |
Gaping Gill (also known as Gaping Ghyll) is a natural cave in North Yorkshire, England. It is one of the unmistakable landmarks on the southern slopes of Ingleborough – a 98-metre (322 ft) deep pothole with the stream Fell Beck flowing into it.[3] After falling through one of the largest known underground chambers in Britain, the water disappears into the bouldery floor and eventually resurges adjacent to Ingleborough Cave.[1][4]
The shaft was the deepest known in Britain, until Titan in Derbyshire was discovered in 1999.[5] Gaping Gill still retains the records for the highest unbroken waterfall in England and the largest underground chamber naturally open to the surface.