Mother Ludlam's Cave, also known as Mother Ludlum's Cave or Mother Ludlum's Hole, is a small cave in the sandstone cliff of the Wey Valley at Moor Park, near Farnham, Surrey, in England. The cave is the subject of a number of local legends. A spring rising in the cave is recorded in the 13th century "Annals of Waverley Abbey" as "Ludewell"; other spellings through history include "Ludwell" and "Luddwelle". A monk named Symon is credited with identifying the spring as a suitable water supply for Waverley Abbey in 1218, after the original source had dried up.[1] The brothers of the abbey dedicated the spring to St Mary, so it also became known as St Mary's Well. The cave has been naturally formed by the spring but may have been enlarged by the monks and was made into a grotto (possibly during the eighteenth century) and further enhanced by addition of an ironstone arched entrance, possibly during the reign of Queen Victoria.
The cave was explored and surveyed at around 200 feet long in 1945[2] and as 192 feet to a recent roof collapse in 1961.[3]
- ^ Hall, Chris (1987). "The Cauldron and the Cave: The legends of Mother Ludlam and the Frensham Cauldron". A Life of Ley Hunting. Archived from the original on 7 February 2012. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
- ^ Mother Ludlam’s Hole, Farnham. John Hooper, The British Caver No. 14, pp. 63-70
- ^ The Moor Park sandstone caves, Maurice Hewins, Wessex Cave Club Journal No. 82, pp. 323-326