<< Our Photo Pages >> Piper's Hole - Cave or Rock Shelter in England in Cornwall
Submitted by Bladup on Monday, 10 July 2023 Page Views: 509
Natural PlacesSite Name: Piper's HoleCountry: England
NOTE: This site is 91.1 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Cornwall Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Map Ref: SV88621654
Latitude: 49.967604N Longitude: 6.343825W
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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Piper's Hole is a natural cave on the North coast of Tresco, Scilly. It has a small entrance packed with large boulders, The cave opens up inside to reveal a high cave and freshwater pool. At the far end of the pool is a tiny gravel beach (Yes, a beach in a cave!!!), beyond which is a narrow corridor of granite that peters out after about 30 metres.
Contrary to many descriptions the freshwater pool isn't at sea level but well above it, and seawater only enters the cave during bad storms, The freshwater pool's depth changes greatly, I've read about people walking though it up to their waist but when i was there it would have been over head height, There was a dingy to cross the water when i was there (So no swimming for me).
Piper’s Hole cuts across a seam of tin which was mined during the 17th century. It is thought to have been named after the clay pipes that smokers would have used, due to the clay seams on the cave walls. Alternatively, others have theorised that the name comes from legends that postulated that the cave was once a fairy cave, and that said fairies would play pipes which could be heard from the cave.
With the rise of tourism to the islands in the 19th and early 20th centuries, a punt was kept in the subterranean pool to ferry people across to the small beach on the other side for a fee. Candles would be placed and lit in the cave in order to illuminate it for visitors. Ethel Smyth, a suffragette and composer, once visited the cave, and featured it in her 1903 opera The Wreckers.
According to legend, Piper's Hole, Tresco, is connected via an underground passage to Piper's Hole, St Mary's. The legend states that people who attempted to traverse the passage were never seen again, and dogs who went through would emerge without much of their fur (rubbed off on the tight cave walls), Another legend states that Piper's Hole was home to a mermaid.
Worked flints, including a thumb-nail scraper were found near Piper's Hole in 1928 and are probably now at the Isles of Scilly museum. A single platform core was found above the rocks on the west side of Piper's Hole.
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