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| Image: The entrance to the cave in 1994. |
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| Image: The entrance to the cave in 2006. |
| Location: |
In the heart of Torquay, from the harbour or from Babbacombe Beach follow Babbacombe road, then Ilsham Road to the cavern.
Easily reached by coach/bus, signposted.
Free Parking.
 Location by UK Streetmap
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| Open: |
26-JAN to FEB daily 11, 12:30, 14, 15. MAR to JUN daily 10-16. JUL to AUG daily 10-16:30. SEP to OCT daily 10-16. OCT to 07-JAN daily 11, 12:30, 14, 15. Closed 25-DEC, 26-DEC. [2006] |
| Fee: |
Adults £6.75, Children (4-15) £5.25, Seniors £6.25, Students £6.25, Family ticket (2+2) £22. Cavern Ghost Show: Per Person £6. [2006] |
| Classification: |
 Karst cave,
prehistoric remains.
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| Light: | electric. |
| Dimension: | |
| Guided tours: | D=45min. Suitable for people with a mobility problem and for the partially sighted. |
| Bibliography: |
Clive Pemberton (1950):
The Origin And Story Of Kents Cavern,
28pp, SB. With a descriptive tour of the caves by Clive Pemberton 1950, a survey by P M B Lake NP and a Time Chart by J B Sparks. 14 B&W photos, 4 colour photos from paintings by Herbert Truman Arwa, 4 line illus by Ernets Petts. White card cover with blueish photo of Long Arcade. various (2003): Kents Cavern Torquay, 385 million years in the making, 100 years of welcoming visitors, Souvenir guide book, Centenary Edition 2003, 36 pp, SB. Lavishly illustrated, more than one colour photo a page. Introduction by Nick Powe, the Managing Director, other chapters by various authors. Glossy, informative, one of the better show cave guides. Clive Pemberton (1964): Kents Cavern, Home of prehistoric man and animals. The Origin, Story and Descriptive Tour of the Caves. Re-adapted 1972 with a survey by P M B Lake 1934 and a Time Chart by J B Sparks. 32 pp, 14 B&W photos, 4 colour photos from paintings by Herbert Truman ARWA, 4 line illus by Earnest Petts. White card cover with a photo of the Greta Chamber. |
| Address: | Kents Cavern, 91 Ilsham Road, Wellswood, Torquay, Devon TQ1 2JF, Tel: +44-1803-215136, Fax: +44-1803-211034. |
| Last update: | $Date: 2007/11/19 21:31:23 $ |
| 1826 | first excavations took place. | |
| 1920's | new excavations. | |
| 1952 | designated an Ancient Monument. | |
| 2003 | Drinks license granted for underground. The first in the UK. Cavers turning up for a quick drink will be disappointed. It is pre-booked parties only.. |
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| Image: The last room shown on the tour contains a small cave zoo |
Kents Cavern is one of the most important archaeological sites in Britain. A multitude of remains of mankind, animals, and nature have become trapped and preserved over the last 500,000 years. Until now over 70,000 Palaeolithic remains have been unearthed.
Kents Cavern has some of the oldest human remains in northern Europe. The oldest findings are five flint hand axes dated to be 450,000 years old. They were made by Homo erectus, the Heidelberg man. Much younger are Neandertal flint tools, numerous have been found in the cave. They are from the middle and upper Palaeolithic and between 120,000 and 10,000 years old. A jaw bone with teeth Homo sapiens is 31,000 years old. There are further remains from the Mesolithic and Neolithic.
As interesting and even more numerous are the findings of animals in the cave. Most famous are the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) remains from about 50,000 to 20,000 years ago. The oldest bear bones from the cave are half a million years old and belong to its ancestor, the Ursus deningeri. Other bones in the cave are from cave lion (Panthera leo), sabre-toothed cats (Homotherium ladidens), mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), cave hyaena (Crocuta crocuta), wolf (Canis lupus), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), and woolly rhino (Coelodonta antiquitatis).
The cave has only one level with passages in two main directions. This labyrinth of interconnected passages was formed along parallel cracks in the rock.
A very interesting feature of the cave is the cave zoo in the last chamber.
It contains only
troglobites,
animals which live in caves.
This are primarily insects and amphibians.
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