Clearwell Caves
Encyclopedia
Forest of Dean
The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. The forest is a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and north, the River Severn to the south, and the City of Gloucester to the east.The...
, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, is a natural cave system which has been extensively mined for iron ore. It now operates primarily as a mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
museum.
The caves were formed by underground streams around 330 million years ago.Clearwell Caves, Geology They have been mined for iron ore possibly as far back as Roman times and extensively in the last century, which considerably enlarged and extended the network of natural caverns. Ochre
Ochre
Ochre is the term for both a golden-yellow or light yellow brown color and for a form of earth pigment which produces the color. The pigment can also be used to create a reddish tint known as "red ochre". The more rarely used terms "purple ochre" and "brown ochre" also exist for variant hues...
has been mined here for even longer.Clearwell Caves, Ochre
The nearby scowle
Scowle
Scowles are landscape features which range from amorphous shallow pits to irregular labyrinthine hollows up to several metres deep and are believed to be almost unique to the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England....
s at Puzzlewood
Puzzlewood
Puzzlewood is an ancient woodland site, near Coleford in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England. The site, covering 14 acres, shows evidence of open cast iron ore mining dating from the Roman period, and possibly earlier....
represent similar shallow mines which have been exposed from above.
The mine is still worked intermittently to produce coloured ochres for use as natural pigments. These are milled and sold in the mine's own shop. A range of colours is available, from pale yellows to near-black, including of course the commonplace red ochre. Clearwell is also known as one of the few locations where the rare purple ochre may be found.
Nine chambers are easily accessible from ground level, and represent the earliest and most complete workings of the mine. A network of much deeper chambers does exist, but can only be visited in the presence of a guide and with appropriate caving
Caving
Caving—also occasionally known as spelunking in the United States and potholing in the United Kingdom—is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems...
clothing for safety. The upper caves are open to the public without special equipment.
The caves have been used as a Santa's Grotto
Santa's Grotto
- The Legend of Santa's Workshop :Santa's Workshop or Santa's Grotto, is the workshop where Santa Claus makes the toys and presents given out at Christmas. In Santa Claus mythology, the workshop is a sprawling complex located at the North Pole...
at Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
time for many years, for easter egg
Easter egg
Easter eggs are special eggs that are often given to celebrate Easter or springtime.The oldest tradition is to use dyed or painted chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as jelly beans...
hunts and in the summer barbecue
Barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...
s, concerts and theatrical performances have been hosted in the upper caves. One chamber is large and well-ventilated enough to permit underground cookery.
Parts of the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
episodes "The Christmas Invasion
The Christmas Invasion
"The Christmas Invasion" is a 60-minute special episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is Christmas, but there is little cause for celebration as planet Earth is invaded by aliens known as the Sycorax...
" (2005), "The Satan Pit
The Satan Pit
"The Satan Pit" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is the second part of a two-part story, following "The Impossible Planet". With the TARDIS seemingly lost, Rose and the remaining humans are trapped on the base with the possessed Ood, while the planet...
" (2006) and "Time of Angels" / "Flesh and Stone
Flesh and Stone
"Flesh and Stone" is the fifth episode of the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by showrunner Steven Moffat and directed by Adam Smith, the episode was first broadcast on 1 May 2010 on BBC One...
" (2010) were filmed in the caves. The nearby quarry at Clearwell has also long been used for filming science fiction scenes, such as in Blake's 7
Blake's 7
Blake's 7 is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC for its BBC1 channel. The series was created by Terry Nation, a prolific television writer and creator of the Daleks for the television series Doctor Who. Four series of Blake's 7 were produced and broadcast between 1978...
.
Reported paranormal activity
Claims of paranormalParanormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
phenomena at the caves have been made over the years. These include reports of the sound of metal clanging in the distance.