Dog Hole Cave

Dog Hole Cave is an archaeologically important cave near the village of Storth in Cumbria. Cut into Carboniferous Limestone, it has a 12-metre shaft leading to a 6-metre phreatic tube. Locals also call it Fairy Cave or Haverbrack Bank Pot. The shaft was largely excavated long ago, leaving the tube at the bottom. The cave sits in a quiet limestone landscape close to Morecambe Bay. The cave’s significance comes from its archaeology and the people who uncovered it. Wilfred Jackson began work here in 1912, finding animal bones including dogs and pigs. In the 1950s local scouts continued the dig and uncovered human remains. Researchers from Liverpool John Moores University returned in 2003 and again in 2009, confirming more archaeology remained. Radiocarbon tests show the cave was used from Romano-British times into the Early Medieval period. Visitors approach the gated entrance along a narrow lane above Storth. Inside, the shaft drops steeply to the tube below. The cave is now protected to preserve what is left of its deposits. Signs of earlier digs are still visible on the walls. Beyond the gate, the cave’s dark passage leads deeper into the hillside.