Hunter's Hole

Hunter's Hole
LocationPriddy
Coordinates51.2476992, -2.6474589
Depth58m[1]
Length0.275km[1]
Discovery1954
GeologyLimestone

Hunter's Hole (or Hunters' Hole) is a cave in the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England. It is behind a pub, known as the Hunters Lodge Inn just outside Priddy where visitors can park. It is accessed via a permanent ladder, about 100m behind the pub in a small dip between some trees.

The main cave was first entered after digging by Wessex and BEC cavers in 1954.[2]

The cave itself consists of a series of shafts down into the main chamber, named the "railway tunnel". Due to the cave mainly being the ascent and descent, it is used to practise single rope technique (SRT).

It is part of the Priddy Caves Site of Special Scientific Interest and described as "an excellent example of a shaft complex draining a closed depression. The roof of the main shaft shows a variety of features such as soil and boulder bridges and scalloped and speleothem lined rifts, all draining the surface depression. This cave differs from the others at Priddy in apparently not having formed as a stream swallet."[3]

  1. ^ a b Irwin & Knibbs, Mendip Underground: A Cavers Guide
  2. ^ Witcombe, Richard (2009). Who was Aveline anyway?: Mendip's Cave Names Explained (2nd ed.). Priddy: Wessex Cave Club. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-9500433-6-4.
  3. ^ "Priddy Caves" (PDF). SSSI citation sheet. English Nature. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 March 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2009.