Dream Cave

Dream Cave is a natural limestone cavern in Derbyshire’s Lower Carboniferous limestone rocks. It lies near Wirksworth and Hopton, on a grassy mound above Carsington Reservoir. The entrance is a steep fissure in fields marked by old lead-mining pits. At about 240 metres above sea level, the cave is roughly 15 metres deep. Its cavities run west-north-west to east-south-east through the hillside. The cave was found in December 1822 by lead miners digging a new shaft. They uncovered a near-complete woolly rhinoceros skeleton buried in loose infill. The Reverend William Buckland examined the bones in January 1823 and later published his findings. Other remains included horse, ox, deer and reindeer bones. These specimens were donated to Oxford Museum where they remain today. Visitors approach through fields scarred by past mining work. The entrance is a deep vertical shaft in a grassy slope. Inside, the cave is mostly cleared of its original fill, leaving open chambers. Above, the land shows a wide depression where the roof once collapsed. The site is now listed among important mining locations in the Peak District.