Ash Hole Cavern

Ash Hole Cavern is a limestone cave system near Brixham in Devon. It lies in Devonian limestone close to Shoalstone Beach and the Berry Head Hotel. The cave has two entrances: a natural sinkhole at one end and a larger opening made during 19th-century quarrying. Inside, a main chamber runs east–west with smaller chambers below and around it. Archaeologists have found tools and pottery from Neolithic times onwards. The site became a scheduled monument in 1966. Excavations show the cave was used from the Bronze Age through Roman times. Roman burials yielded urns, ashes, bones and coins of Claudius and Nero. In the 1830s the Rev. Henry Francis Lyte dug a shaft and found bones of animals and soldiers, plus Roman pottery and human remains. Later work in the 1960s uncovered Bronze Age Trevisker-style pottery and flint. Many finds are now in Brixham Museum. Visitors walk about fifty metres from Berry Head Road through woodland to reach the cave. Inside, the main chamber is spacious while smaller side chambers descend and climb again. One chamber holds loose rock and a ladder leads up to an upper level covered in old flowstone inscriptions. The cave’s history and the nearby beach and hotel make the short walk worthwhile.