Balch Cave

Balch Cave lies in Fairy Cave Quarry, close to Stoke St Michael, within the limestone uplands of the Mendip Hills in Somerset. The cave was named after Herbert E. Balch, a well-known explorer of Mendip caves. It forms part of a larger system that feeds St. Dunstan’s Well, a protected scientific site. Quarry blasting in November 1961 first opened the cave to view. By the late 1960s much of the cave had been removed by further quarrying. The cave’s surviving chambers still show fine calcite formations. In December 1961 explorers found decorated rifts with sparkling flowstone and a grotto lined with white stalactites and pillars. A month later they reached the fourth chamber, rich in white and cream flowstone, narrow curtains, and white stalactites. Further chambers held multiple stalagmite formations. Today the Fairy Caves Management Committee controls access to what remains. The cave is closed from October to April to let bats hibernate undisturbed. Stabilisation work after quarrying destroyed more passages, including the original entrance and the Great Chamber. Visitors who enter see only the smaller surviving sections of the once larger system.