Mossdale Caverns

Mossdale Caverns is a cave system in the Yorkshire Dales, England. It lies high on the eastern side of Wharfedale, where Mossdale Beck disappears into the limestone at the foot of Mossdale Scar. The cave formed in Middle Limestone and carries a strong stream that emerges 4.4 kilometres away at Black Keld, 225 metres lower. The whole area is protected as the Black Keld Catchment Site of Special Scientific Interest. The caverns gained fame through exploration led by Bob Leakey in 1941, guided by Eli Simpson’s belief in a hidden system. Leakey’s wartime team included women from the Yeadon aircraft factory, and later Mike Boon and Pete Livesey reached the far end in 1964. A journey to the end takes eight to ten hours and demands endurance, but visits stopped after the 1967 tragedy when six cavers died in floodwaters. Above the sealed entrance hangs a memorial plaque. On the moor stands a cairn marking the spot above the cave where the bodies were found. The plaque reads simply that the cairn is over the place in the cave where the bodies were found. The moorland above remains quiet, the scars of the search long faded, while the cave itself waits, sealed and silent.