Cateran Hole is a circa 35m length

cave 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 ...

set in the

Gritstone Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for pa ...

of Cateran Hill in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

. It lies about 4 miles due north of Eglingham, and can be reached by lining up the tall mast behind the farm with the left-hand end of the wood to the side of the Quarry House farm (to the north of the cave), then walking on this bearing. A shallow crater with cut steps lead down into an easy rift passage which ultimately chokes. After the initial steepness of the steps, the passage is roomy with a slight downward tilt, running between two large planes of Gritstone which close in above. After about 30m a block, protruding downwards from the ceiling, reduces the route to a crawl into a small chamber which is choked by large blocks ahead. This crawl is sandy and often completely dry, although in very wet weather it occasionally sumps. The main fault, however, continues, and it is likely that this cave could be extended by concerted digging (a dangerous activity), although it is difficult to see why this would be done in Gritstone, where there is unlikely to be found any significant lateral development. Cateran Hole is reputed to have been a smugglers' hiding place,Brook, D.; Davies, G.M.; Long, M.H.; Ryder, P.F.: ''Northern Caves - Volume 1 Wharfedale and the North-East'', Dalesman, 1988, p. 249 although locals claim that it once linked nearby Chillingham Castle with

Hepburn Hepburn may refer to: Surname People with the surname Hepburn (the most famous in recent times being actresses Katharine Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn): * Hepburn (surname) Linguistics * Hepburn romanization, a system for the romanization of Japa ...

. The latter seems an unlikely conclusion as it tends in the direction of neither, while the carved stone steps favour the former.

Notes

Caves of Northumberland {{Northumberland-geo-stub

See also

Notes