Cox's cave
Encyclopedia
Cox's Cave is in Cheddar Gorge on the Mendip Hills
, in Somerset
, England. It is open to the public as a show cave
.
The cave is named after mill owner
George Cox who discovered it in 1837, while quarrying limestone for a new building.
Cox immediately opened it as a show cave and ran it as a private enterprise until landowner, Thomas Thynne, 5th Marquess of Bath
, took it over at the beginning of the 20th century.
The cave consists of seven small grottoes, joined by low archways. One section of the cave is known as the Home of the Rainbow, where traces of minerals have been brought in from the surface, and have given the stalagmites a wide range of colour, from nearly black, green, and orange to pure white. The famous French speleologist
, Édouard-Alfred Martel
, visited this cave and declared that "out of 600 caves, Cox's was admired the most".
Mendip Hills
The Mendip Hills is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running east to west between Weston-super-Mare and Frome, the hills overlook the Somerset Levels to the south and the Avon Valley to the north...
, in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, England. It is open to the public as a show cave
Show cave
Show caves — also called tourist caves, public caves, and in the United States, commercial caves — are caves that are managed by a government or commercial organization and made accessible to the general public, usually for an entrance fee...
.
The cave is named after mill owner
Miller
A miller usually refers to a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a cereal crop to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents in other languages around the world...
George Cox who discovered it in 1837, while quarrying limestone for a new building.
Cox immediately opened it as a show cave and ran it as a private enterprise until landowner, Thomas Thynne, 5th Marquess of Bath
Thomas Thynne, 5th Marquess of Bath
Thomas Henry Thynne, 5th Marquess of Bath KG, CB, PC, JP , styled Viscount Weymouth until 1896, was a British landowner and Conservative politician. He held ministerial office as Under-Secretary of State for India in 1905 and Master of the Horse between 1922 and 1924...
, took it over at the beginning of the 20th century.
The cave consists of seven small grottoes, joined by low archways. One section of the cave is known as the Home of the Rainbow, where traces of minerals have been brought in from the surface, and have given the stalagmites a wide range of colour, from nearly black, green, and orange to pure white. The famous French speleologist
Speleology
Speleology is the scientific study of caves and other karst features, their make-up, structure, physical properties, history, life forms, and the processes by which they form and change over time...
, Édouard-Alfred Martel
Édouard-Alfred Martel
, the 'father of modern speleology', was a world pioneer of cave exploration, study, and documentation...
, visited this cave and declared that "out of 600 caves, Cox's was admired the most".