Gower Caves

The Gower coastline is chiefly constructed of carboniferous limestone - a hard grey rock that can be dissolved by water. Over many thousands of years, the Bristol Channel seeped into fissures that occur naturally in the rock, slowly eating into it to form the caverns and deep passages that make this coastline such great caving territory.

A fascinating catalogue of animal remains have been discovered in many of these caves, giving them the title of "Bone Caves". These include the straight-tusked elephant, hippopotamus, mammoth, soft-nosed rhinoceros, cave bear, wolf and lion. The presence of such a variety of species, many of whom required diametrically opposed climates for existence and the fact that most of these bone caves would be quite difficult, if not impossible, for many of these animals to reach today, points to the fact that the topography of this region has altered considerably throughout its long history.

During prehistoric times, for example, the Bristol Channel had not yet come into existence and all that divided the south coast of Gower from England was a vast wooded valley (fossilised remains of which are still evident at many points along this coastline). At other times, both the land and sea levels have been significantly higher than they are today. But it is now believed that even when the valley floor was at its greatest height, the only way some of the animals could ever have reached the caves was for their bodies to have been dragged in pieces by wolves and similar carnivores.

It is also known that many of the Gower caves have been inhabited by humans, some as little as 1500 years ago. The remains of many of these individuals, plus the wide array of animal bones, fragments of pottery and weapons also discovered during excavation work on these sites can be viewed at both Swansea Museum and the British Natural History Museum in London.

Given the obvious antiquity of Gower's caves, it may be surprising to discover that many of them were not excavated until quite recent times. Indeed, more than a few of them were only discovered in the last century. Again, this can be explained by the Gower coastline's changing topography. At the end of the last Ice Age, many of these bone caves were faced by sweeping winds, during which they were filled with mud and debris lifted from the valley below. Sealed by this material, these caves and their historical treasures remained hidden until the coastline was later quarried for its limestone in the 18th and 19th centuries.

For those planning to visit any of Gower's caves, it must be remembered that the provisions of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which protects much of the Gower Peninsula, also apply to the depths of its caves and care must therefore be taken not to disturb the bats, badgers, foxes and other wildlife that use these caverns as their homes.

Leather's Hole, Tor Bay
Bob's Cave, Mumbles
Worm's Head Cave, Rhossili
Stouthall Cave
The Caves of Broughton Bay
Bracelet Bay Cave
Bacon Hole
The Caves of Caswell Bay
Cat Hole Cave
Culver Hole
Gut Hole Cave
Port Eynon Point Cave
Pennard Cliffs Caves
Llanrhidian Caves
Mewslade's Many Caves
Oxwich Bay Sea Caves
Paviland Caves