Stump Cross Caverns

Stump Cross Caverns is one of Britain's premier show caves, located in Nidderdale on the border of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. There are a range of facilities for a great family day out, including a gift shop and tea room as well as the caves themselves. There is also a twenty minute video presentation shown in the comfortable lecture theatre, informing visitors of the history and development of the caverns within the local area.

The formation of Stump Cross Caverns began millions of years ago, when the area which is now the Yorkshire Dales was covered by oceans. Sediment from the ocean floor would eventually form limestone, the basic material from which the caves are made. The caves at Stumps Cross were discovered in 1860 by miners who were looking for lead seams in the Yorkshire Dales. Although they didn't find any lead, they did find the natural caverns which you can see today. Miners often didn't see any commercial value in the caves, however a man named William Neubold had vision enough to see that they could be a profitable enterprise, and opened the caves to the public at a cost of 1 shilling per visit.

The cave system at Stump Cross extends well beyond the show caves which are open to the public, to an overall length of approximately 6km. Many of the deeper caverns are only accessible to experienced cavers, but there is a possibility of further sections of the caverns being opened to the public in the future. Indeed, the impressive reindeer cavern was opened to the public in 2000 after debris was removed and the cave was made safe.

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