Take an amazing boat trip 450m under the Hills of Castleton to the awesome Bottomless Pit. Understand a little of what life must have been like for the miners working in this eighteenth century.

 

 

 

The Cavern consists of a miners' passage  leading to the cavern itself, a limestone cave. The passage is permanently flooded, resulting in Speedwell Cavern's (locally unique) feature. 

 

 

 

After descending a long staircase of a 105 steps, visitors make the journey into the cave by boat (originally legged through by the guide, but now powered by an electric motor). At the end of the passage, visitors leave the boat and walk into the cave to see stalactites and stalagmites, and the so-called "Bottomless Pit".

 

 

 

The pit is an extremely deep vertical shaft, now choked to within 20 metres (66 ft) of the surface by rock spoil dumped by miners. 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). A connection was discovered in 1999 between the Speedwell Cavern system and Titan, the largest natural shaft in the UK, which is 141.5 metres (464 ft) high.

 

Admission: Adults £6.00, children £4.00, concessions £5.00. Family (2+2) £20.  Tel 01433 620512