Cave details
Also known as Gaping Ghyll. A famous tourist attraction as not only is the fossil resurgence cave a showcave (with the current resurgence connecting to it further upstream) but the main inlet entrance holds several British records on its own. It has the highest unbroken waterfall in Britain (102 m - there are taller single-drop waterfalls in Scotland, though they fail to drop cleanly) dropping into the largest chamber by volume in Britain, with a side passage entering the third largest chamber. The Main Chamber is 136 m long, between 27 and 46 m wide, between 34 and 49 m high, with an area of 2729 square metres, and a volume of 43071 cubic metres for the chamber itself. When including the main shaft, this volume becomes 45549 cubic metres, or 50601 cubic metres when also including The Great Rift. It holds second place in terms of area, after Reservoir Hole's The Frozen Deep. Many entrances drop quickly to the main level then run almost level making a network of passages of varying heights. Long sumps connect the main cave network to the showcave, with deeper routes not yet connected. A description of selected routes is available on the Braemoor pages.