Read's Cavern is a
cave at
Burrington Combe
Burrington Combe is a Carboniferous Limestone gorge near the village of Burrington, on the north side of the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in North Somerset, England.
"Combe" or "coombe" is a word of Celtic origin found ...
,
Somerset, England, in which traces of
Iron Age occupation have been found. It lies under Dolbury Hill. Its large main chamber has a boulder ruckle floor and is parallel to a cliff face. The cave was excavated by the
University of Bristol Spelæological Society (UBSS) in the 1920s, when relics of
Iron Age occupation were found.
The UBSS excavation followed the removal of 21 tonnes of limestone material below a cliff where a stream sinks. Among the finds were ironwork described as slave shackles.
After its discovery, the cave was first known as ''Keltic'' or ''Celtic Cavern'' until the
Ordnance Survey decided that it should be known as Read's Cavern, after Mr. R. F. Read, the discoverer. It has also been called "Gough's Cave".
[Neff, Hector (1992). ''Chemical characterization of ceramic pastes in archaeology'', p. 282: "Gough's Cave or Read's Cavern"]
References
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Caves of the Mendip Hills
Limestone caves
Wild caves