<< Our Photo Pages >> Fairy Holes - Cave or Rock Shelter in England in Lancashire
Submitted by philryder on Sunday, 07 March 2004 Page Views: 25636
Natural PlacesSite Name: Fairy HolesCountry: England County: Lancashire Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Nearest Town: Clitheroe / Preston Nearest Village: Whitwell
Map Ref: SD65534678 Landranger Map Number: 102
Latitude: 53.916010N Longitude: 2.526279W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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FrothNinja visited on 26th Apr 2013 - their rating: Cond: 3
Formed in a limestone outcrop on top of a small hill that overlooks Witewell and the River Hodder. Surrounded by mature mixed woodland.
Access: Location is at SD 6553 4676. From the Inn at Whitewell cross the river via the stepping stones, you may have to go round if the river is in flood, and follow the footpath up the hill towards the farm. There is a large steel gate on the left that leads in to the woodland but there is a sign on the gate saying no access to caves. If you choose to ignore this follow the higher of the two paths until the path starts to sweep to the right. At this point if you look up the hill to the right you can see the outcrop that the caves are located in. An alternative is to continue through the farmyard a short distance to the footpath on you left. Follow this up the hill for two hundred metres then turn east (90 degrees left) till you reach the fence. Follow this south till you reach a small gate in the fence at SD6551,4679. Walk straight ahead for 20 metres till you’re on top of the outcrop and the caves are immediately below you.
More information can be found at Pastscape Monument No. 43773, which adds this cave is "on New Laund Farm, is a nearly straight passage about 65ft long, 6ft wide and 10ft high at the entrance, finishing in a chamber about 8ft diameter and 12ft high. The platform in front of the cave is from 2 to 6ft wide, the edge dropping away almost perpendicularly for 20ft. Excavations in 1946 revealed Bronze Age potsherds, animal bones, a pebble pounder, a flint flake, a small core, three unidentifiable small pieces of iron and the possible site of a hearth. Two stone walls across the mouth of the cave were found."
The Northern Antiquarian (TNA) also includes a page for this site - see their entry for Fairy Holes, Whitewell, Lancashire, which has alternative directions for finding this cave together with photographs, a plan of the cave chamber, a brief archaeology & history and local folklore.
The Journal of Antiquities also includes an entry for this cave - see their page for Fairy Holes Cave, Whitewell, Forest of Bowland, Lancashire, which includes photographs of the cave, a photograph of some of the artefacts found within the cave and a plan of its interior. The Journal also includes quotations from recent reference sources, together with a list of related websites where more information can be found. The Journal adds a quotation from John Dixon which reads: "in 1984 a large round stone was found in the river near to the inn. On closer inspection, archaeologists declared the carved-out stone to be a mortar used for grinding food grains, and they dated it to the Bronze Age. This stone is now locally known as ‘The Whitewell Stone’, which is today housed in the hotel in the village."
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