Outside the Wyre: Kents Cavern

You've read his comments! You seen the adverts for his website! You've heard about his fondness for Last of the Summer Wine. He's been away from this board for a while, but now he's back...which means I don't have to create a midweek posting this week.
So let's have a big hand for Mr. John Steventon from across the pond, and his occasional guest-blog (and before you all start celebrating, this service will be back to it's usual cruddy self next Thursday...so put the champagne back in the fridge):

Torquay, the Riviera of the English Coast. Many have traveled there, and many more have joked about it, and some, I dare say, have explored its many mysteries and histories. Agatha Christie, for one, and in her explorations she too delved into the depths of Kents Cavern, and even wrote about it in The Man in the Brown Suit.

Torquay is a seaside resort area, filled with natural beauty and, unfortunately, not so beauteous tourists. That aside, there is a lot of history to explore, and the coast is riddled with caves that allow us to reach back into the time of early man and prehistoric creatures. Many of the caves have been blocked up, to prevent tourists from getting caught in them at high tide, but the finest (that we know of in the area), is Kents Cavern, and is open to the public.
Before I go on, and before the fine people of Kents Cavern send their burly cousins after me, let me state the fact that it is not easy to maintain such a site these days. Museums and other educational facilities find it difficult to capture the attention of wandering tourists, but need to do so for the many expenses that operating and maintaining such a place requires. So, yes, there is an entrance fee, and a gift shop that rivals the caverns themselves. There is also a nice café, a hiking trail, and some gardens to peruse. Unfortunately, many of the artifacts are in the British Museum, or off being studied, leaving behind some mannequins dressed as paleontologists and cave people, some plastic replicas, and, when it works, a laser light show. The tour guides also have some pretty bad jokes, and I hear there is sometimes a person dressed up as ‘Cavog the Caveman’.
I thank the Lord that I didn’t have to put up with Cavog the Caveman on my trip.
Okay, this all sounds rather silly for a place that British Heritage has labeled “beyond doubt one of the most important sites in Britain for Paleolithic archaeology”. However, tourist money is important to maintaining this site, and I urge you to visit if ever in the area. The truth is, it is such an interesting place that you can’t help but learn something there, if only accidently. Someone with half a brain or more will actually come away with a lot to think about, regardless of the laser light show and monumental gift shop.
So, the facts: Human beings were using the cave fro over 350,000 years ago. This is mind boggling if you think about it, especially considering that humans as we know them go back as much as 35,000 years ago. Not only has the cave been used for hundreds of thousands of years, but detritus from the outside world has washed into it, carrying the remains of all sorts of creatures who did not live in the caves. The people of Kents cavern claim to have a hand axe that dates to 500,000 years old; Not a claim to make lightly, let me tell you.
There really is too much to tell you in a humble little blog like this. The cavern has the stalactites and stalagmites you would expect from a cave, and some of them are quite nice. There are rock formations, and stone tools, and animal remains, and minerals, and just a lot to see. It’s a small tour, unfortunately, but I bought the souvenir guide book which is chock full of interesting facts and photos. In fact, I wish I had read the guidebook first, so I could have appreciated even more the things I saw.
In closing, I will say that if you are visiting Torquay, it may be worthwhile to hike up the mountain to see the caverns. It’s a long walk, but there is a pub at the top (bonus!), and at least two shops that sell excellent Cornish Pasties on the way. The caverns are at the top of the mountain, just below the pub, and it is a lovely walk to the top, and a beautiful view when you get there. You also pass the Torquay Museum on the way, which is another place worth visiting.
For more information, please visit http://www.kents-cavern.co.uk

John Steventon Feb. 29, 2008