Upper Flood Swallet
Encyclopedia
Upper Flood Swallet which was originally known as Blackmoor Flood Swallet, is a cave
near Charterhouse
, in the carboniferous limestone
of the Mendip Hills
, in Somerset
, England
. The cave is part of the Cheddar Complex
SSSI.
The entrance was revealed in the Great Flood of 1968
, giving the cave its name. It was dug consistently since then with breakthroughs occurring in 1971, 1972, 1985 and 2006.
At of September 2008 it is over 3.5km in length and around 125m deep.
Cave
A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...
near Charterhouse
Charterhouse, Somerset
Charterhouse, also known as Charterhouse-on-Mendip, is a hamlet in the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the English county of Somerset...
, in the carboniferous limestone
Carboniferous limestone
Carboniferous Limestone is a term used to describe a variety of different types of limestone occurring widely across Great Britain and Ireland which were deposited during the Dinantian epoch of the Carboniferous period. They were formed between 363 and 325 million years ago...
of the Mendip Hills
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
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...
. The cave is part of the Cheddar Complex
Cheddar Complex
The Cheddar Complex is a 441.3 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Cheddar around the Cheddar Gorge and north east to Charterhouse in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, notified in 1952....
SSSI.
The entrance was revealed in the Great Flood of 1968
Great Flood of 1968
The Great Flood of 1968 was a flood caused by very heavy rain that struck South East England and France in mid-September 1968, with the worst on Sunday 15 September 1968, and followed earlier floods in South West England during July.-South West England:...
, giving the cave its name. It was dug consistently since then with breakthroughs occurring in 1971, 1972, 1985 and 2006.
At of September 2008 it is over 3.5km in length and around 125m deep.