The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Langwith Basset Cave

Cave / Rock Shelter

Fieldnotes

Visited 1.5.14

Directions:
From Bolsover take the A632 east.
When you reach Langwith Junction take the loop-road south.
Park outside the Holy Cross Church and walk along the footpath to the side of the church. The cave is amongst trees in the field on the opposite side of the valley.
The footpath does not lead to the cave – you have to cross over a barbed wired locked metal field gate.


Karen and Sophie stayed in the car while myself and Dafydd headed up the muddy path. After crossing a stile we were met by a herd of cows. Sophie doesn’t like cows (bit too big for her) but fortunately Dafydd is made of sterner stuff. The cows were reluctant to move and we had to walk right through the middle of them in order to cross the small wooden ‘bridge’ over the stream. The cows proved to be friendly.

Once we reached the gate I lifted Dafydd over the barbed wire and climbed over myself. Visitors not welcome I assume?

We quickly walked over to the trees (out of sight) and immediately saw the cave.
It was much larger than I expected, approximately 3m high x 7m across. Walking inside was easy – at least it would have been had it not been for the rubble dumped inside – why do people do this?

This is a pretty spot and a visit to the cave is well worth the effort – as long as you are ok with climbing over gates with barbed wire on top!

On the way back up the path (and once more through the cows) we met a chap coming the other way.

‘Been to see the cave?’ he enquired
‘Yes’ I replied.

Clearly other people do visit this site – despite the barbed wire / padlocked gate.
Posted by CARL
6th May 2014ce

Comments (1)

Unfortunately the cave has been littered with rubbish from yobs drinking inside it etc, so I can see why they have tried to stop people going over the gate. The footpath unfortunately doesn't run on the same field that the cave is in. Posted by Trinovantes
29th March 2015ce
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