Ease Gill Caverns

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Ease Gill Cave System
Easter Grotto
Location	Cumbria, UK
OS grid	SD 6640 8072
Coordinates	54°13′16″N 2°31′00″W / 54.221138°N 2.516734°W / 54.221138; -2.516734
Depth	137 metres (449 ft)
Length	66,000 metres (217,000 ft)
Elevation	294 metres (965 ft)
Discovery	1946
Geology	Limestone
Entrances	>10
Cave survey	cavemaps.org

The Ease Gill Cave System is the longest,^[1] and most complex cave system in Britain as of 2011,^[2][3][4][5] with around 41 miles (66 km) of passages, including connections only passable by cave diving. It spans the valley between Leck Fell and Casterton Fell. The water resurges into Leck Beck.

The first-discovered entrance, Lancaster Hole, was found by George Cornes and Bill Taylor on 29 September 1946. A small draughting opening on Casterton Fell, Cumbria, opened immediately onto a 110-foot (34 m) shaft. Passages from the base of the shaft were explored over the succeeding weeks and months by members of the British Speleological Association, including Jim Eyre. The underground course of the Ease Gill (the local master cave) and high-level fossil passages above it were found and followed upstream to a series of complex inlet passages. In succeeding years, these have been connected to surface caves, including Top Sinks, County Pot and Pool Sink.

The cave passages adjoining the Ease Gill main streamway were connected to Link Pot and Pippikin Pot in 1978, and Pippikin was itself connected to Lost John's Cave by diving in 1989.

With its many entrances, the Ease Gill system offers cavers a wide variety of through trips; the Ease Gill streamway is regarded as one of the finest in the UK.