Location by UK Streetmap
APR to OCT daily 10-17:30.
[2007]
Groups (15+): Adults £3.95, Children (4-18) £3.95.
[2007]
Karst cave,
tufa cave.
| Location: |
In Knaresborough, near York.
6,5km east of Harrogate, 27km west of York, 29km north of Leeds.
A1(M) exit 47, turn west on A59, 6,5km to Knaresborough.
Location by UK Streetmap
|
| Open: |
FEB, MAR Sat, Sun 10-17:30. APR to OCT daily 10-17:30. [2007] |
| Fee: |
Adults £5.50, Seniors £4.50, Children (4-18) £4, Family (2+2) £16.50. Groups (15+): Adults £3.95, Children (4-18) £3.95. [2007] |
| Classification: |
Karst cave,
tufa cave.
|
| Light: | electric. |
| Dimension: | |
| Guided tours: | selfguided |
| Bibliography: | Windsor, Diana, Mother Shipton's Prophecy Book - The story of her life and her most famous prophecies, Knaresborough 1990 |
| Address: |
Mother Shiptons Cave Ltd, Prophesy Lodge, High Bridge, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire HG5 8DD, Tel: +44-11423-864600, Fax: +44-11423-868888.
E-mail: |
| Last update: | $Date: 2008/10/09 18:31:09 $ |
| 1488 | Mother Shipton born in a riverside cave at Knaresborough. | |
| 1630 | Petrifying Well first opened to the public. | |
| 1641 | first book with Mother Shipton's prophecies published. |
Mother Shipton's Cave and the Petrifying Well are both very similar geological features. The water leaving the limestone at the well is loaded with dissolved limestone. This solution works, as the water contains small amounts of carbon dioxide CO2, which makes it a (very weak) acid. When the water leaves the rock, the carbon dioxide leaves the water and the water is no longer able to keep the limestone in solution.
The result of this chemical process is obvious: anything placed in the water of the well is coated by calcite very quickly. This is often called petrifying. Every karst spring shows this effect, but depending on the size of the spring and the chemistry of the water, the effect is sometimes, like here, much more obvious.
The cave itself is a result of the same process. The limestone deposited around the spring forms plateaus, rims and waterfalls and is called tufa or sometimes travertine. The tufa grows forming overhanging cliffs, and in very rare cases the cavern below this cliff remains as a so called primary cave, a cave formed at the same time as the surrounding rock.
Mother Shipton's Cave is a small tufa cave. Legend says, it was the birth place and the home of Mother Shipton. Her birth and her life where rather extraordinary, she predicted several important historical events. So the place today focusses on Mother Shipton and not on the geological situation. To read more about this topic, please follow the links below.
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