Cefn Caves

Cefn Caves are a group of four linked caves cut into limestone cliffs above the Elwy valley north of Denbigh in Denbighshire. The caves sit in a steep wooded gorge where the river once flowed underground. Excavations long ago found human and animal bones from the Old Stone Age. The whole cave system is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The network was first explored in the 1830s by the Rev E. Stanley. His finds included stone tools and animal bones carried into the caves by water over many centuries. One passage called the Old Cave still shows where the River Elwy once ran before the gorge cut deeper. Today cavers from a nearby outdoor centre use the passages for training. Visitors walk along the gorge rim to see the cave entrances in the cliffs. Inside, the Old Cave passage stretches back into the hillside, its walls smoothed by the vanished river. The other three caves lie close by, connected by narrow tunnels and chambers. Above ground, the wooded valley offers quiet paths and views across the limestone slopes.