Caves and Karst of the Yorkshire Dales

Latest update...

Volume 2 of this book has now been published on paper. It is intended that the chapters of Volume 1 and Volume 2 will be made available online before stocks of the printed books run out. The online chapters of Volume 2 will be revised and updated when significant new explorations make that appropriate. Meanwhile, three items are online and can be downloaded from the links below.

The Outline file is a free download that lists the contents in detail and also includes the index. Chapter 24 is presented as a sample of the chapters in Volume 2, and is a free download for members of BCRA. Chapter 25 is made available as a free download for everyone and as a contribution towards understanding of the karst geomorphology of the Malham area, which attracts wider interest from non-cavers.

Read the original publicity page for these books.

The editors would like to thank all the authors and photographers for their contributions to this project over the past five and more years.

Tony Waltham and Dave Lowe, November 2017

List of Contents

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Caves and Karst of the Yorkshire Dales (Volume 2)
by Tony WALTHAM and David LOWE (eds.)

WALTHAM, Tony and David LOWE (eds.) (2017). Caves and Karst of the Yorkshire Dales (Volume 2) . Buxton: British Cave Research Association. £15.00 post free. ISBN 978-0-900265-48-8 (softback), 978-0-900265-51-8 (hardback). 328pp, A4, all in colour, with 141 maps and graphics, and 627 photographs.

A reference work for everyone from academic geographers to dedicated cave explorers

This book - in two volumes - presents an overview of all aspects of the great cave systems and spectacular karst landforms in the limestone terrain of the Yorkshire Dales. Thirty-one authors, all experts in their fields, have produced authoritative and up-to-date texts, which have been drawn together by editors Tony Waltham and David Lowe, each of whom has extensive experience of the Dales, both above and below ground. Volume One, published in 2013, contains all the overview chapters covering individual aspects of the geomorphology, speleology and science relevant to the Yorkshire Dales. Volume Two, published in 2017, contains chapters that describe the major caves and a regional overview for each of 17 areas within and around the Yorkshire Dales karst. The book is aimed at anyone with a serious interest in the Dales, and that will include everyone from the academic geographers to the dedicated cave explorers.

In the list below, the chapters of Volume Two that are available to download as samples are shown with an icon of a padlock next to them, and a clickable URL. To order a copy of the book on paper, please go to the BCRA Bookshop page

item: Caves and Karst of the Yorkshire Dales (Contents and Index) (PDF 1.5MB)

by Tony WALTHAM and David LOWE (eds.).
This extract contains the covers, publication details and preface for both volumes, along with the detailed contents lists and the combined location index.
Date: Published online 05 August 2017.

item: Caves and Karst of the Yorkshire Dales (ERRATA) (PDF 68KB)

by Tony WALTHAM and David LOWE (eds.).
With the two volumes now printed and in circulation, it is inevitable that errors have been found. The editors apologise for these errors which, together with a scattering of minor typos, will be remedied before the chapters go on-line at some future date, when up-dates related to new discoveries will also be included.
Date: Published online 12 November 2017.

Ch. 24: Caves of Pen-y-ghent and Fountains Fell (PDF 4.5MB)

by Graham PROUDLOVE and Tony WALTHAM.
Dominating the eastern flank of Ribblesdale, Pen-y-ghent is one of the well-known Three Peaks of the Yorkshire Dales. Though rising to only 694m, and therefore the lowest of the three, its steep profile ensures that it is visible and recognisable from anywhere in the dale. The adjacent Fountains Fell rises to 668m and provides a complete contrast, in that it is a broad hulk of upland with rounded shoulders and no distinctive summit.
Both hills are outliers of the shales and sandstones, along with thin limestones, all within the Yoredale Group, and both have caps of sandstone within the Millstone Grit Group. Streams that drain off both hills sink into the main underlying limestone close to the margins of the largely impermeable outliers, creating a long line of open caves and deep potholes. Some of these descend into major cave systems, with long streamways that extend towards resurgences close to the dale floor.
Date: Published online 27 July 2016; last updated 14 July 2017.

Ch. 25: Caves around Malham and Settle (PDF 2.6MB)

by Phil MURPHY.
Malham Cove and Gordale Scar are two of the best-known limestone landforms in Britain and the surrounding limestone uplands are among the finest glaciokarst landscapes in the Dales. In the heart of this terrain, Malham Tarn occupies a glacially excavated bowl floored by impermeable rocks that lie beneath the limestone. Surface karst features include great expanses of limestone pavement and numerous dolines, large and small, in addition to the Watlowes dry valley above Malham Cove, and the limestone gorge above Gordale Scar.
This chapter was updated in January 2016 to describe the flooding event in December 2015, which saw a waterfall at Malham Cove, and was almost certainly the first time that this had flowed on a significant scale since 1824.
Date: Published online 21 August 2015; last updated 14 July 2017.