Cathedral Cavern

A cavern deep in the woods, hewn out of the rock during the search for slate. A sloping pillar, rather like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, holds the roof of the cavern up. A pool of water that's cold as ice even on a warm summer's day, lies to one side. A window high on the side provides a little soft light, and gives a view down onto a largely historic industry. This is Cathedral Cavern.

Cathedral Cavern

Unsurprisingly then our walk Waterfalls and the Cathedral Cavern, from Elterwater has always been one of our most popular, vying with our walk up Catbells for second place behind the out and leader Scafell Pike - The Easy Way which is typically 50% ahead of the other two. We already have some other walks up Scafell Pike and Catbells but not to Cathedral Cavern so we thought another one was called for and this week we've published A visit to Cathedral Cavern from Tilberthwaite which offers a shorter walk starting from south of the cavern at Tilberthwaite.

The cavern itself is quite something but the long tunnel in is also quite an experience, and the reason why you will need a torch, ideally a head torch, for both of our walks.

The long tunnel to Cathedral Cavern, used on both walks

Cathedral Cavern, like most of the other interesting caves in the Lake District, is man made; a consequence of quarrying, in this case for green slate. Long disused, the quarry site is now managed by the National Trust and can be entered by the public. It features various chambers and tunnels, including Cathedral Cavern which is 12m high and lit by two windows with a huge rock pillar supporting the roof.

Jessie behind the pillar in Cathedral Cavern

If you enjoy your visit to Cathedral Cavern you might also like to visit Rydal Cave, another vast quarry cave, although more open than Cathedral Cavern. You can find it on the south side of Rydal Water and our walks Loughrigg Fell from White Moss, Loughrigg Fell from Rydal, Loughrigg Fell from Ambleside, and Loughrigg Tarn all visit it.

Tagged: walks

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