Pridhamsleigh Cavern is a

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

on the outskirts of Ashburton,

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It is approximately 1.1 kilometres in length with a total depth of just over 50 metres including Prid II. Pridhamsleigh is a good site for novice cavers, making it quite muddy throughout. It has a large variety of passages which lends itself to longer explorations. Due to the nature of the connecting and unconnecting overlapping

phreatic ''Phreatic'' is a term used in hydrology to refer to aquifers, in speleology to refer to cave passages, and in volcanology to refer to a type of volcanic eruption. Hydrology The term phreatic (the word originates from the Greek , meaning "we ...

passages in the cave, surveys (maps) of the cave are hard to interpret. The cave contains 'Bishops Chamber', a wide chamber close to the entrance from where most routes lead, and 'The Lake'. This elongated pool is over 100 feet deep. In the early 1970s divers with SCUBA gear discovered, at a depth of about 80 feet, a window into second partially air-filled chamber, with no passages leading off it. This chamber is the biggest in Devon and is named Gerry's Chamber after its discoverer, the late Gerry Pritchard. An accurate, hand-drawn, plan of the cave is held in the reference section of Plymouth Library. Although not requiring great skill to explore, the cave is quite complex, there being three distinct routes from 'Bishop's Chamber' to the lake. First-timers should note their route carefully as it is easy to get disorientated. The cave is the type locality for the 3mm-long, blind white cave shrimp endemic to the south-west of England, '' Niphargus glenniei'' (Spooner, 1952).

References

{{Reflist

Sources

* ''The Complete Caving Manual'' by Andy Sparrow published 199

* ''The Concise Caves of Devon'' by Tony Oldham published 1986

External links

* Photogallery and further inf

* Clip of SCUBA dive tri

* Exeter University Speleological Society's page on Pridhamsleigh Caver

Caves of Devon Wild caves