Oxlow Cavern facts for kids

Oxlow Cavern is a cool cave system found near Castleton in Derbyshire, England. What makes it special is that it's a mix of natural cave passages and tunnels dug by miners long ago. You can find it on the south side of the road that goes from Sparrowpit towards Winnats Pass. It's almost directly across the road from another well-known cave called Giant's Hole. Very close to Oxlow Cavern, you'll also find the Maskill Mine, which connects to it.

Exploring Oxlow Cavern

Oxlow Cavern is known as a "vertical" cave. This means you mostly go down into it! It's usually dry and quite deep. Most of its passages are large and formed inside a special rock feature called a mineral vein.

What's Inside Oxlow Cavern?

To get into Oxlow Cavern, you first go down a mine shaft that is about 17.5-metre (57 ft) deep. This shaft is quite narrow. After going past an old mining tunnel, you come out at the top of a sloped area inside a natural cave space.

From there, you'll find two more "pitches," which are like drops or vertical sections you need to descend. These lead you down to a spot about 70 metres (230 ft) below the entrance. At this point, you have two paths to choose from:

• East Chamber: If you go east, the cave continues to drop down into a very large area called the East Chamber.
• West Swirl Passage: If you go west, you enter the impressive West Swirl Passage. This passage slopes down at a 45-degree angle. It leads you to the bottom of the fourth pitch and into the huge West Chamber.

At the very end of the West Chamber, there's a passage that connects through to the bottom of Maskill Mine. There's also a climb in the wall of the West Antechamber (a room before the West Chamber). This climb leads to a tight, wet crawl heading north. This crawl takes you into the New Oxlow Series, which is a long, very tight, and wet connection to Giant's Hole.