Top 6 Caves Arncliffe

Access: 🚗 c. 2miles from the village of Horton-in-Ribblesdale 🥾 Alternatively, enjoy a 9 miles hike with just 2,000ft of total elevation from Horton-in-Ribblesdale, via Pen-y-Ghent

This is the cave entrance and memorial plaque to six men who drowned potholing in Mossdale Cavern in June 1967. The cave system is vast and extends some 5km, its takes 10-15 hours to reach the end and back and remains not fully explored. On that day 10 experienced cavers entered the caverns with 4 returning after the first sump. 6 continued to try to remove rock at the extent of the known system. Upon returning to the entrance to the cave one of the original four was horrified to discover the waters had risen to cover the whole entrance of the cave. She ran 2 miles to the nearest farm to raise the alarm. A large team dug trenches and built a dam to hold back and redirect the water, the next day a team were finally able to enter the cave and make the grim discovery that 5 of the men had died. The body of John Ogden was not found until a further exploration some days later. The cave was sealed and the remains of the men lie within the cave to this day. It would be impossible to bring them to the surface. There is a memorial cairn above the position where the bodies lie on the moor. It is also worth looking at the Church and Churchyard in Coniston where further memorials are on display.

The skyline above Settle makes for a tremendous day out for hikers. There is no central peak to go for, just a jagged collection of rocky high points that make for a really good walk, but you will find a trig point on Warrendale Knotts. You will find a lot of caves in the area too due to the terrain being dominated by limestone, and nearby Victoria Cave is the largest of these caves. All in all, Attermire Scar is an impressive geological feature.

Be prepared to get muddy, protect your head and take a torch.

Slippery when wet! Worth the walk up to it

Hull Pot is an amazing collapsed cavern that is now just an open limestone scar measuring 91 metres (300 feet) long by 18 metres (60 feet) deep. In dry weather, like today unfortunately, Hull Pot Beck goes underground before it gets to the rim, but in wet weather, it gives way overground to form a stunning waterfall. A stunning place to spend some time!

Add to your route if there has been heavy rainfall so you can admire this natural beauty

Hull Pot, on the western side of Pen-y-Ghent, is a collapsed cavern, and an impressive hole measuring 91m (300ft) long by 18m (60ft) deep. In the late 18th century, in a guidebook published, it was called 'a Hulpit', and the author stated that it "would have appeared like the inside of an enormous old Gothic castle, the high ruinous walls of which were left standing after the roof was fallen in".