Long Drop Cave facts for kids

Long Drop Cave is an exciting underground adventure located on Leck Fell in Lancashire, England. It's not just any cave; it's connected to a much bigger network called the Three Counties System. This huge cave system is about 87-kilometre (54 mi) long! It stretches across the borders of three different areas: Cumbria, Lancashire, and North Yorkshire.

Exploring Long Drop Cave

Imagine going deep underground! The main entrance to Long Drop Cave is found below a small cliff. You start with a short crawl, which leads to a dry shaft about 8 metres (26 ft) deep. After that, you follow a narrow path where a small stream flows.

Deep Drops and Big Rooms

Further inside, you'll find a narrow drop about 5 metres (16 ft) deep. The passage then continues for about 20 metres (66 ft) before opening up into a much larger area. Here, there's a big drop, or pitch, that's 29-metre (95 ft) deep! This pitch lands you in a large space called Fault Chamber. In this chamber, you can see a natural crack in the rock, called a geological fault, where the rock has moved.

After Fault Chamber, another 8-metre (26 ft) pitch leads to a final chamber. From here, a stream flows through a low, watery passage. This passage can sometimes be completely filled with water, making it a challenge to pass through. If you can get past this watery section, you can even reach another part of the cave system called Dolphin Passage in Death's Head Hole!

High Stream Passages

In Fault Chamber, there's also a way to climb up to another section called High Stream Passage. This area has its own stream and some interesting features. One part leads to a narrow passage about 20-metre (66 ft) long. Another section drops down a 22-metre (72 ft) pitch into High Stream Chamber. From the top of this pitch, you can explore two different paths. One path is about 100 metres (330 ft) long and is beautifully decorated with minerals.

Short Long Drop Entrance

There's a second way into the cave called Short Long Drop. It's only about 10 metres (33 ft) away from the main entrance. This entrance starts with a tight crack in the rock. It leads to an 8-metre (26 ft) deep shaft. At the bottom, a tight crawl connects you to the main cave system.

How the Cave Was Formed

Long Drop Cave is a solutional cave. This means it was formed over a very long time by water dissolving the rock. The cave is made in a type of rock called limestone, which formed during the Carboniferous period. The way the cave developed was greatly influenced by natural cracks and a fault in the rock.

The water you see flowing through the cave comes from small streams on the surface. This water travels through Long Drop Cave, then into Dolphin Passage in Death's Head Hole, and eventually joins the main underground river in Lost John's Master Cave. All this water eventually comes out at a spring called Leck Beck Head.

A Brief History of Discovery

People have known about Long Drop Cave for a long time. As early as 1922, explorers from the Yorkshire Ramblers' Club described a "perfect round dry shaft" in the cave, but they couldn't find a way past the bottom.

In the 1950s, cavers Bob Leakey and Gordon Batty tried digging deeper but didn't break through. The real breakthrough happened in 1965 when members of the Gritstone Club managed to dig a little further. They found a tight crawl that led them into the main part of the cave!

Later, in 1981, members of the Burnley Caving Club discovered Humble Inlet by climbing a 22-metre (72 ft) high shaft in High Stream Chamber. Also in 1981, the Gritstone Club successfully connected the end of Long Drop Cave to Death's Head Hole, linking these two parts of the amazing Three Counties System.

The Short Long Drop entrance was explored more recently, in 2007, by members of the Red Rose Cave & Pothole Club. They dug into it and discovered how it connected to the main cave.