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Treak Cliff Cavern

Blue John (mineral)Castleton, DerbyshireCaves of DerbyshireFluorite minesLimestone caves
Mines in DerbyshireShow caves in the United KingdomTourist attractions of the Peak DistrictUse British English from February 2023
Treak Cliff Cavern interior Andy Mabbett 38
Treak Cliff Cavern interior Andy Mabbett 38

Treak Cliff Cavern is a show cave near Castleton in Derbyshire, England. It is part of the Castleton Site of Special Scientific Interest and one of only two sites where the ornamental mineral Blue John is still excavated (the other is the nearby Blue John Cavern). As part of an agreement with English Nature, the Blue John that can be seen in the show cave is not mined but it is extracted in small quantities from other areas of the cave and made into saleable items like bowls, jewellery, and ornaments.The cave comprises two sections, the Old Series, discovered by lead miners in the 18th century, and the New Series, discovered during blasting in the 1920s. Only the Old Series contains Blue John, but the New Series is well decorated with flowstone, stalagmites, and stalactites. Three human skeletons and flint implements from the Neolithic era were found in a small cave nearby in 1921.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Treak Cliff Cavern (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Treak Cliff Cavern
Buxton Road, High Peak Castleton

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Wikipedia: Treak Cliff CavernContinue reading on Wikipedia

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N 53.3451 ° E -1.7972 °
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Treak Cliff Cavern

Buxton Road
S33 8WD High Peak, Castleton
England, United Kingdom
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Treak Cliff Cavern interior Andy Mabbett 38
Treak Cliff Cavern interior Andy Mabbett 38
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Speedwell Cavern
Speedwell Cavern

Speedwell Cavern is one of the four show caves in Castleton, Derbyshire, England.The cave system consists of a horizontal lead miners' adit (a level passageway driven horizontally into the hillside) 200 metres (660 ft) below ground leading to the cavern itself, a limestone cave. The narrow adit is permanently flooded, so after descending a long staircase, access to the cave is made by boat. At the end of the adit, the cavern opens up with fluorspar veins, stalactites and stalagmites, and the so-called "Bottomless Pit". This chamber has an underground lake with a 20 metres (66 ft) high waterfall and an extremely deep vertical shaft, now choked to within 20 metres (66 ft) of the surface by rock spoil dumped by miners, after driving the continuation of the canal to the natural streamway beyond, which provided the bulk of the water for the canal. The original depth of the shaft has been estimated, from the amount of spoil placed in the shaft over the years, at around 150 metres (490 ft).The mine was developed in the 1770s but the limited lead ore deposits meant that it was not profitable and it was closed down by 1790.At the foot of Winnats Pass, it is a tourist attraction with an underground boat trip to the cavern. Originally the guide propelled the boat by pushing against the walls with his hands, later the boat was legged through, and now it is powered by an electric motor. A connection was discovered in 2006 between the Speedwell Cavern system and Titan, the largest natural shaft in the UK, which is 141.5 metres (464 ft) high.