The Longwood Swallet is a cave near

Charterhouse Charterhouse may refer to: * Charterhouse (monastery), of the Carthusian religious order Charterhouse may also refer to: Places * The Charterhouse, Coventry, a former monastery * Charterhouse School, an English public school in Surrey London ...

, in the

Carboniferous Limestone Carboniferous Limestone is a collective term for the succession of limestones occurring widely throughout Great Britain and Ireland that were deposited during the Dinantian Epoch of the Carboniferous Period. These rocks formed between 363 and ...

of the

Mendip Hills The Mendip Hills (commonly called the Mendips) is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running from Weston-super-Mare and the Bristol Channel in the west to the Frome valley in the east, the hills ...

, in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The cave is part of the Cheddar Complex SSSI and is connected to

August Hole August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...

. It is 1.65 km in length and reaches a depth of 175m. The cave was discovered in September 1944 by boys from

Sidcot School Sidcot School is a British co-educational independent school for boarding and day pupils, associated with the Religious Society of Friends. It is one of seven Quaker schools in England. The school is based in the Mendip Hills near the village of ...

. The picture shown is not the Longwood Swallet, it is Longwood Valley Sink. Longwood Swallet's entrance is lidded concrete block construction. A (non-free) picture of Longwood Swallet entrance is availabl
here
The cave is locked and access is controlled by th
Charterhouse Caving Company
There is a warning sign posted at the entrance to the cave about flooding. This has always been a problem, but is more pronounced due to the extraction of water from the spring at Charterhouse. When the pumps owned by

Bristol Water Bristol Water is a British water company which supplies 266 million litres of drinking water daily to over 1.2 million customers in a area centred on Bristol, England. It is regulated under the Water Industry Act 1991. Sewerage services in th ...

stop this can cause a flood wave to travel down the stream and into the cave.

References

Caves of the Mendip Hills Limestone caves Cheddar, Somerset {{Somerset-geo-stub

See also

References