| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
.jpg) Interior view of Kent's Cavern | |
  Location within Devon | |
| Location | South Devon |
|---|---|
| Grid reference | SX 934641 |
| Coordinates | 50°28′06″N3°30′11″W / 50.4682°N 3.5030°W /50.4682; -3.5030 |
| Interest | Geological |
| Area | 1.7 hectares (17,000 m2; 183,000 sq ft) |
| Notification | 1952 (1952) |
| Natural England website | |
Kents Cavern (also spelledKent's Cavern) is a cave system inTorquay, Devon, England. It is notable both for itsarchaeological and geological features (as akarst feature in theDevonian limestone). The cave system is open to the public and has been a geologicalSite of Special Scientific Interest since 1952 and aScheduled Ancient Monument since 1957.[1][2]
Kents Cavern was formed by erosion of rock that is part of theTorquay Limestone of Middle-UpperDevonian age, which is underlain by a unit of primarily grey mudstone, theNordon Slate and overlain by theGurrington Slate, a unit of purple and grey-green mudstone of Upper Devonian age, as well by much younger Permian agedNew Red Sandstone. Kents Cavern probably formed during theEarly Pleistocene, and has primarily been created byphreatic and secondarily byvadose processes. It consists of a complex of chambers and passageways. The cave sediment fill is probablyMiddle Pleistocene-Holocene age.[3]
The lowest sediment layer, the "Red Sands", is probablyfluvial in origin, and likely formed during theCromerian during the Early Middle Pleistocene. The next above layer, the "Breccia", is adiamicton deposit consisting of a red mudmatrix withclasts primarily of red sandstone, siltstone, slate and quartz, as well as fragments of rocks from the cave itself likestalagmites, that are poorlysorted and generally stronglyangular to moderately angular (subangular). It likely accumulated in the cave as a result ofsolifluction processes during theAnglian Glaciation (Marine Isotope Stage/MIS 12, ~478-424,000 years ago), though it contains fossil remains (as well as stone tools) that likely predate the Anglian glaciation. The Breccia experienced some more movement during the MIS 10 glaciation ~350,000 years ago. The upper layers of the Breccia are overlain by layers offlowstone and other calcite deposits dubbed the "Crystalline Stalagmite", with the earliest layers of flowstone forming duringMIS 11 ~400,000 years ago, though there was a major pulse of calcite deposition duringMIS 9, around 300,000 years ago. The Breccia subsequently experienced some erosion after MIS 9, leaving a gap known as the "Vacuity" between the Breccia and the flowstone in parts of the cave.[3]
The last major unit is the "Cave Earth" that formed during theLast Glacial Period largely during MIS 3, around 60-30,000 years ago,[3] though some areas of Kents Cavern "Cave Earth" formed during MIS 2.[4] The "Cave Earth" has been described as a "mixture of mud, sand and rock fragments".[5] In the upper "Cave Earth" lies the "Black Band" alens bed containing considerable amounts of diffusely spreadcharcoal as well as human artifacts.[6] Deposition of calcite has been ongoing throughout theHolocene and is still actively occurring in parts of the cave.[3] The uppermost layer of deposition in parts of the cave is now largely removed "Black Mould" of Holocene age, which while never properly characterised, contained "charcoal, ash, decayed organic material, leaf fall, shells" as well as Holocene human artifacts.[7]
Handaxes found in the "Breccia" layer of the cavern indicate that the area in the vicinity of the cave system was occupied during theAcheulean period of theLower Paleolithic, no later than Marine Isotope Stage 12 (~478-424,000 years ago), with a 2025 study suggesting they dated toMarine Isotope Stage 15, around 600,000 years ago, based on the relative crudeness of their manufacture and similarity to handaxes from other sites in Britain of a proposed MIS 15 age like those found at Lakenheath/Maidscross Hill, Warren Hill and Brandon Field, which if correct would make Kents Cavern one of the oldest Palaeolithic localities in Britain, older than the famousBoxgrove site in Sussex.[8]
Mousterian stone tools found in the cavern during excavations in the 19th century indicate that the cave was later occupied byNeanderthals during the lateMiddle Paleolithic (likely sometime roughly around 60-40,000 years ago). Most of these artifacts are now lost, though 45 remain, including "fivebifaces, ninescrapers, possibleawls/borers, and a variety of debitage including twoLevallois flakes", which are either made offlint orgreensand-derivedchert. Given the partial and incomplete current state of the finds, it is difficult to provide conclusive answers about how Neanderthals used the cave, though from what remains "there is little evidence of on-site manufacture, and the whole appears to be a collection of artefacts taken to the cave during a number of relatively brief visits".[9]
A prehistoric upper jawbone (maxilla) fragment of a modern human (Homo sapiens) was discovered in the cavern during a 1927 excavation by the Torquay Natural History Society and namedKents Cavern 4. The specimen is on display at theTorquay Museum.[10][11]
In 1989, the fragment wasradiocarbon dated to 36,400–34,700 yearsBefore Present (BP), but a 2011 study that dated fossils from neighbouringstrata produced an estimate of 44,200–41,500 years BP. The same study analysed the dental structure of the fragment and determined it to beHomo sapiens rather thanHomo neanderthalensis, which would have made it the earliest anatomically modern human fossil yet discovered in Britain and northwestern Europe.[12] In a response to this paper in 2012, the authors Mark White andPaul Pettitt wrote, "We urge caution over using a small selected sample of fauna from an old and poorly executed excavation in Kent's Cavern to provide a radiocarbon stratigraphy and age for a human fossil that cannot be dated directly, and we suggest that the recent dating should be rejected."[13] A 2017 paper by some of the same authors of the 2011 study rebutted the concerns presented and again supported the 44,200–41,500 BP date.[14]
A small number ofInitial Upper Palaeolithic stone tools assigned to theLincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician complex (with the name "Lincombian" name deriving from Lincomb Hill on which Kent's Cavern is situated) have also been found in the cavern, which are likely older than 36,000 years ago and may be contemporaneous with the maxilla.[13][15] Stone artifacts, includingburins and scrapers from the cavern ofAurignacian type date to probably at earliest 37,000 years ago, though perhaps likely somewhat later.[16] "Maisierian"-type tanged stone points indicate that the cavern was occupied by earlyGravettian peoples, probably about 33,000 years ago.[17] The "Black Band" of the upper "Cave Earth" contains younger Late Upper PalaeolithicMagdalenian tools ofCreswellian type, including stone points, barbed points made of deer antler, a rod made of woolly mammoth ivory, along with human modified animal bones.[18] The Creswellian occupation of the cavern has been radiocarbon dated to approximately 14,798 to 13,769cal BP.[19]
The "Black Mould" layer of the cavern contains artifacts indicating the cave was visited by humans throughout the Holocene, spanning from theMesolithic toRoman and Medieval periods. A significant Mesolithic find is of a partial ulna, which dates to around 8,070 BP. The bone was fractured around the time of death and displays cut marks, which suggests it was possibly broken to extract themarrow, either as a ritual act and/or for the purposes ofcannibalism.[7]
During theMiddle Pleistocene (Marine Isotope Stage 11, ~400,000 years ago) the caves were used as a hibernation den bycave bears (on the transition between the archaicUrsus deningeri and the laterUrsus spelaeus) resulting in a considerable number of their remains being excavated from the "Breccia" layers cave.[3] The remains ofcave bears, and other animals, were distributed to museums around the world.Leeds Museums and Galleries have a large amount of Kent's Cavern bear material. TheRoyal Albert Memorial Museum, theNatural History Museum,Torquay Museum,Museum National D'Histoire Naturelle, theSmithsonian Institution,Museum Victoria,Hull and East Riding Museum,Bridport Museum, theHorniman Museum, theOxford University Museum of Natural History, theUniversity of Leicester, theGreat North Museum, theMuseum of Gloucester, theNational Museum of Ireland,Bolton Museum and theBath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution all look after remains from the caverns.[20]
Other mammal remains in the Breccia include those of the large extinct lionPanthera fossilis, the archaic extinctwater vole speciesArvicola cantiana, the livingtundra vole (Microtus oeconomus), as well as"Pitymys" gregaloides,[21] an archaic member of the lineage leading to the livingnarrow-headed vole (Stenocranius gregalis).[22] It has been suggested that at least the vole fossils date to MIS 13, around 500,000 years ago.[3]
During theLast Glacial Period (sometime between 90-25,000 years ago) during the deposition of the "Cave Earth", the cave served as a den site forcave hyenas. Remains of animals found in these layers includewild horse, juvenilewoolly mammoth,woolly rhinoceros,steppe bison,reindeer andred deer,[23] with these layers also containing the remains ofwolves.[24]
The cave was where theholotypecanine teeth of the sabertooth catHomotherium latidens were collected by John MacEnery in 1826, and formally described byRichard Owen in 1846. Later in the 19th century incisor teeth were also found in the cave. Kent's Cavern is one of only a handful of sites in Britain whereHomotherium remains have been found.[25] Isotopic analysis of the canine teeth ofH. latidens found in Kent's Cavern indicates that they are isotopically distinct from other animal remains found in the cave. This, along with the absence of any otherHomotherium remains in the cave, has led authors to suggest that the teeth were deliberately transported into the cave by humans during the Palaeolithic from further afield (possibly from mainland Europe), perhaps as a kind of trade good. The teeth are suggested to have experienced considerable weathering prior to being taken into Kent's Cavern,[24] and it is unclear whether these teeth were taken from the remains of then-relatively recently deadHomotherium or subfossil remains of long-deadHomotherium individuals.[25]
Kents Cavern is first recorded as Kents Hole Close on a 1659 deed when the land was leased to John Black.[26] The earliest evidence of exploration of the caves in historic times is two inscriptions, "William Petre 1571" and "Robert Hedges 1688" engraved onstalagmites. The first recordedexcavation was that ofThomas Northmore in 1824.[26] Northmore's work attracted the attention ofWilliam Buckland, the first Reader in Geology at theUniversity of Oxford, who sent a party includingJohn MacEnery to explore the caves in an attempt to find evidence thatMithras was once worshipped in the area.[27] MacEnery, theRoman Catholic chaplain atTorre Abbey, conducted systematic excavations between 1824 and 1829.[26][27] When MacEnery reported to theBritish Association the discovery offlint tools below the stalagmites on the cave floor, his work was derided as contrary to BishopJames Ussher'sBiblical chronology dating theCreation to 4004 BC.[28]
In September 1845, the recently created Torquay Natural History Society requested permission from Sir Lawrence Palk to explore the caves to obtainfossils andartefacts for the planned Torquay Museum, and as a result, Edward Vivian andWilliam Pengelly were allowed to conduct excavations between 1846 and 1858.[26] Vivian reported to theGeological Society in 1847, but at the time, it was generally believed that early humans had entered the caves long after the formation of the cave structures examined.[29] This changed when, in the Autumn of 1859, following the work of Pengelly at theBrixham Cavern and ofJacques de Perthes in France, theRoyal Society, theSociety of Antiquaries, and the British Association agreed that the excavations had established theantiquity of humanity.[29]
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In 1865, the British Association created a committee, led by Pengelly, to fully explore the cave system over the course of fifteen years.[26] It was Pengelly's party that discovered Robert Hedges' stalagmite inscription, and from the stalagmite's growth since that time deduced that human-created artefacts found under the formation could be half a million years old.[30] Pengelly plotted the position of every bone, flint, and other artefact he discovered during the excavations and afterward continued working with the Torquay Natural History Society until his death in 1892 at his home less than 2 km from the caves.[31]
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In 1903, Kents Cavern, then part of Lord Haldon's estate, was sold to Francis Powe, a carpenter who originally used the caves as a workshop while making beach huts for the Torquay sea front.[2] Powe's son, Leslie Powe, turned the caves into a tourist attraction by laying concrete paths, installing electric lighting, and building visitor facilities that later were improved, in turn, by his son John Powe.[32] The caves, now owned by Nick Powe, celebrated 100 years of Powe family ownership on 23 August 2003 with special events including an archæological dig for children and a display by a cave rescue team.[33] A year later, a new£500,000 visitor centre was opened, including a restaurant and gift shop.[2]
Attracting 80,000 tourists a year, Kents Cavern is an important tourist attraction, and this was recognised in 2000 when it was awarded Showcave of the Year award and later in November 2005 when it was awarded a prize for being Torquay's Visitor Attraction of the year.[citation needed]
Kents Cavern is one of the most importantgeosites in theEnglish Riviera Geopark, one of over 170UNESCO Global Geoparks.[citation needed]
In 2023, Kents Cavern was put up for sale for up to £2,500,000 and bought by The Tudor Hotel Collection.[34]
"Hampsley Cavern" inAgatha Christie's 1924 novelThe Man in the Brown Suit is based on Kents Cavern.[35] The 2011 science fiction romanceTime Watchers: The Greatest of These, by Julie Reilly, uses Kents Cavern as a principal setting in three different time periods.
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Media related toKents Cavern at Wikimedia Commons