The Ease Gill Cave System is the longest, and most complex cave system in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

as of 2011, with around of passages, including connections only passable by

cave diving Cave-diving is underwater diving in water-filled caves. It may be done as an extreme sport, a way of exploring flooded caves for scientific investigation, or for the search for and recovery of divers or, as in the 2018 Thai cave rescue, other ...

. It spans the valley between

Leck Fell Leck may refer to: Places * Conwal and Leck, Ireland * Leck, Lancashire, England * Leck, Nordfriesland, Germany * Leck, Virginia, U.S. Persons * Leck (rapper), French rapper of Moroccan origin * Bart van der Leck Bart van der Leck (26 Novembe ...

and Casterton Fell. The water resurges into

Leck Beck Leck Beck is a watercourse in Lancashire with its source on Crag Hill in Cumbria between Leck Fell and Casterton Fell. For several kilometres near the start of its course, the water flows into the Ease Gill Cave System, part of The Three Cou ...

. The first-discovered entrance, Lancaster Hole, was found by George Cornes and Bill Taylor on 29 September 1946. A small draughting opening on Casterton Fell,

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, opened immediately onto a shaft. Passages from the base of the shaft were explored over the succeeding weeks and months by members of the

British Speleological Association British Speleological Association (BSA) was founded by Eli Simpson and others in 1935. It was instrumental in the discovery of Lancaster Hole and other caves. In 1973, it merged with the Cave Research Group of Great Britain to form the British Cav ...

, including Jim Eyre. The underground course of the Ease Gill (the local master cave) and high-level fossil passages above it were found and followed upstream to a series of complex inlet passages. In succeeding years, these have been connected to surface caves, including Top Sinks, County Pot and Pool Sink. The cave passages adjoining the Ease Gill main streamway were connected to Link Pot and Pippikin Pot in 1978, and Pippikin was itself connected to

Lost John's Cave Lost Johns' Cave is an extensive cave system on Leck Fell, Lancashire, England. With its three major vertical routes (''Dome Route'', ''Centipede Route'' and ''Monastery Route'') it is a popular place to practise single-rope technique (SRT) bec ...

by diving in 1989. With its many entrances, the Ease Gill system offers

caver Caving – also known as spelunking in the United States and Canada and potholing in the United Kingdom and Ireland – is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems (as distinguished from show caves). In contrast, speleology is ...

s a wide variety of through trips; the Ease Gill streamway is regarded as one of the finest in the UK.

Entrances

Entrances include: * Top Sink * Pool Sink * The Borehole * Slit Sinks * Wretched Rabbit * Corner Sink * County Pot * Cow Dubs II * Cow Pot * Lancaster Hole * Link Pot * Mistral Hole * Pippikin Pot * Bull Pot of the Witches

References

Bibliography

* * {{cite book, author1=Waltham, A.C. , author2=Simms, M.J. , author3=Farrant, A.R. , author4=Goldie, H.S. , year=1997, title=Karst and Caves of Great Britain, pages=29–38, publisher=Chapman & Hall, 2-6 Boundary Row, London SE1 8HN, UK, isbn=0-412-78860-8

External links

Website that contains a description of much of the Ease Gill system

Website that includes details of several caving routes in the Ease Gill System
Limestone caves Wild caves Caves of Cumbria Caves of Lancashire Caves of the Three Counties System