Cave Hole

Cave Hole is a large sea cave on the south-east coast of Portland, a long limestone peninsula in Dorset. A blowhole opens on the cliff top and a wooden crane called Broad Ope Crane stands nearby. The cave’s interior measures fifteen metres square and six metres high. It lies half a mile north-east of Portland Bill, where the island narrows to a rocky point. The cave’s roof has partly collapsed, leaving steep sections and narrow tunnels inside. Broad ledges run along the walls, giving footholds for climbers. The site marks an early stage in the natural collapse of coastal caves. Cave Hole appears in old stories of smuggling and shipwrecks. In 1780 an east-south-easterly gale drove a forty-ton vessel from Cowes straight into the cave. In 1949 Frank and Ann Davison were wrecked there while sailing to the West Indies; Frank drowned but Ann reached the shore. The cave’s blowhole channels powerful waves upwards whenever an easterly gale blows. An iron grill protects visitors from looking down into the shaft. Deep-water solo climbers regularly train on the cave’s walls. Visitors walk along the cliff path to the crane and look down through the grill into the blowhole. Inside, the cave’s tunnels and ledges can be explored on foot when the tide is low. The surrounding cliffs offer views across the English Channel to the south. Local legend speaks of the Roy Dog, a black hound with one green eye and one red eye that rises from the water to drag unwary travellers into the cave. Broad Ope Crane stands rusting on the cliff, a relic of the island’s stone-exporting past.