A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word cave can refer to smaller openings such as sea caves, rock shelters, and grottos, and they are called endogene caves. Caves which are deeper than its opening is wide are called exogene.
Wookey Hole Caves are a series of limestone caverns, a show cave and tourist attraction in the village of Wookey Hole on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills near Wells in Somerset, England. The River Axe flows through the cave. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for both biological and geological reasons. Wookey Hole cave is a "solutional cave", one that is formed by a process of weathering in which the natural acid in groundwater dissolves the rocks. Some water originates as rain that flows into streams on impervious rocks on the plateau before sinking at the limestone boundary into cave systems such as Swildon's Hole, Eastwater Cavern and St Cuthbert's Swallet; the rest is rain that percolates directly through the limestone. The temperature in the caves is a constant 11 °C (52 °F).
Swildon's Hole is an extensive cave in Priddy, Somerset. At 9,144 metres (30,000 ft) in length, it is the longest cave on the Mendip Hills. It has been found to be connected to Priddy Green Sink and forms part of the Priddy Caves Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
The River Axe is a river in South West England. The river is formed by water entering swallets in the limestone and rises from the ground at Wookey Hole Caves in the Mendip Hills in Somerset, and runs through a V-shaped valley. The geology of the area is limestone and the water reaches Wookey Hole in a series of underground channels that have eroded through the soluble limestone. The river mouth is in Weston Bay on the Bristol Channel.
Burrington Combe is a Carboniferous Limestone gorge near the village of Burrington, on the north side of the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in North Somerset, England.
A blue hole is a large marine cavern or sinkhole, which is open to the surface and has developed in a bank or island composed of a carbonate bedrock. Their existence was discovered in the late 20th century by fishermen and recreational divers. Blue holes typically contain tidally influenced water of fresh, marine, or mixed chemistry. They extend below sea level for most of their depth and may provide access to submerged cave passages. Well-known examples are the Dragon Hole and, in the Caribbean, the Great Blue Hole and Dean's Blue Hole.
Priddy is a village in Somerset, England in the Mendip Hills, close to East Harptree and 4 miles (6 km) north-west of Wells. It is in the local government district of Mendip.
Brimble Pit and Cross Swallet Basins is a 154.3 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Wookey Hole and Priddy in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, notified in 1987.
Priddy Pools is a 52.7-hectare (130-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest at Priddy in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, notified in 1972.
Priddy Mineries is a nature reserve previously run by the Somerset Wildlife Trust. It is in the village of Priddy, on the Mendip Hills in Somerset.
Thrupe Lane Swallet is a 0.5 hectares geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset, notified in 1992. It is also a Geological Conservation Review site.
The caves of the Mendip Hills are formed by the particular geology of the Mendip Hills: large areas of limestone worn away by water makes it a national centre for caving. The hills conceal the largest underground river system in Britain.
St Cuthbert's Swallet is the second longest, and most complex, cave on the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England. It forms a major part of the Priddy Caves system and water entering this swallet re-emerges at Wookey Hole. St Cuthbert's Swallet is part of, and lies underneath, the Priddy Pools Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The Longwood Swallet is a cave near Charterhouse, in the Carboniferous Limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England. The cave is part of the Cheddar Complex SSSI and is connected to August Hole.
Stoke Lane Slocker is a cave near Stoke St Michael, in the Carboniferous Limestone of the Mendip Hills, in the English county of Somerset.
Sidcot Swallet is a cave near Burrington Combe, in the Carboniferous Limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England.
Rod's Pot is a limestone cave above Burrington Combe in the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England.
Hunter's Hole is a cave in the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England. It is behind a pub, known as the Hunters Lodge Inn just outside Priddy where visitors can park. It is accessed via a permanent ladder, about 100m behind the pub in a small dip between some trees.
The Caves of the Tullybrack and Belmore hills are a collection of caves in southwest County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The region is also described as the West Fermanagh Scarplands by environmental agencies and shares many similar karst features with the nearby Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark.
