Friday, March 20, 2015

Five on Friday

Joining in this week with  Amy and Five on Friday.  Click on the link at the bottom of this post to find others who are joining in too.

The village of Creswell and also Creswell Crags are in North East Derbyshire and not very far from the village I grew up in.  Two other nearby attractions close to the village we lived in were Bolsover Castle and Hardwick Hall, and only a little further away was Clumber Park.  Hard to think that all these were on my doorstep for the twenty five or so years that I lived in that part of the country.


Access to the Crags has changed so much in recent years.  When I was a child we used to drive quite close to the caves as the road went through there - it has all been bypassed now and there are many more walks in the area.  Creswell Crags is a Limestone Gorge honeycombed with caves and fissures where evidence of life in the last Ice Age, between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago, has been discovered and is interpreted in the Visitor Centre and Museum.  There are about eight caves in all along the gorge some more accesible than others.  As this post is for Five on Friday I'm going to introduce you to five of them.


1.  Robin Hood Cave -  this is the largest cave at Creswell  Crags and there are four main chambers linked together by short passages.  There have been many excavations in this cave in both the 19th and 20th centuries and many tools left there by Neanderthal people from between 60,000 and 40,000 years ago including flint scrapers and hand axes.

2.  The Arch -  Three caves in all make up the Arch or Lion's Mouth and many different animal bones have been found here including a  reindeer bone with cut marks over 42,000 years old suggesting that Neanderthals were using the caves to butcher the animals they had captured.

3. Pin Hole - Neanderthals were the first people to use this cave as a shelter whilst hunting reindeer in the area.  During the first excavation here the teeth of a young woolly mammoth were found.

4. Dog Hole -  was first excavated by Robert Laing, a Newcastle doctor before 1889.  None of the finds from this excavation have ever come to light but in the 1980s in spoil pits outside the cave many items were found.  These included animal bones dating from the last ice age including hyenas, woolly rhinoceros, horse and reindeer.  They also found a few flint tools.  Finds from the nearby Dog Hole fissure caused by a landslide in 1978 have included bones from other animals like lynx, beaver and wild pig.

5.  Mother Grundy's Parlour - has undergone many excavations over the years.  One of the first people to dig in the cave was a local Creswell man whose wife dreamt that there was buried treasure in the cave.  A hippopotamus tooth was found and offered for sale which prompted an excavation in 1878 by the Reverend Magens Mello and Professor W Boyd Dawkins.

Here is a - link - to the Creswell Crags website where you can find out more about each cave, the excavations that have taken place and see some of the artefacts found there.


38 comments:

  1. Many years since I've been in that part of the country. Thanks for the reminder to go back some day.

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    1. It is an interesting and historic part of England and often overlooked:)

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  2. I saw something about Creswell Crags on a TV show, so it is fascinating to see your up close photos and to read some more about it. The signs for each of the caves are very good aren't they. Thank you so much for joining in. I hope that you have a great weekend! xx

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    1. The crags have been on several TV programmes - it is a fascinating place with a unique atmosphere:)

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  3. Lovely place to visit, on my list for when I visit that area. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. There is so much to see in the area - inlcuding the places I mentioned and not too far from Cresswell is the Welbeck Estate and the Harley Gallery and Mr Straw's house at Worksop:)

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  4. I've never ventured down any of the caves, even though they do guided tours sometimes. I relaly should some day.

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    1. They do have guided tours - I've never been inside one of the caves even when they were more accesible but my husband has - apparently they are very interesting. I find them a bit spooky:)

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  5. Hi Rosie, I love how you describe your local area you obviously do love it and it makes me want to visit so much. We really do have to make the effort because we are not that far away. The caves looks fascinating, the signage is really good and clear. I love hearing your memories of how it used to be, it's amazing how places evolve and it's not until we sit back and think that, we realise how much they have changed. Have a lovely weekend xx

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    1. We lived in that area from when I was about 6 years old until I was about 29 so I am very familiar with what the area has to offer and it does feel like home. Although I love living in Staffordshire too now:)

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  6. What a fascinating post! Thank you so much for sharing.
    Have a lovely weekend!

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it Sara - thanks for visiting and leaving a comment:)

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  7. Love caves, yours look like a fascinating place to visit.

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    1. It is very interesting - especially if you like early history and learning about the first people to live here:)

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  8. I've driven past Cresswell Crags so many times and never called in. Note to self..... !! xx

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    1. All free except the Museum displays in the visitor centre and the cave tours, nice cafe and shop and some interesting walks along the gorge - not far from the Harley Gallery and Welbeck where I know you visit sometimes:)

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  9. The caves have such strange names such as Mother Grundy's Parlour! I think it looks a little eerie around the crags! x

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    1. It is quite eerie, Simone and I was glad I wasn't alone - there were a few local dog walkers and a group of school children headed into one of the caves and a group of older men studying the ferns and lichens that grow around there:)

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  10. Great photos of a georgeos place (my father was a geologist and very interested in holes, but he could not visit this holes, because we were living in the GDR).
    Have a nice spring weekend

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    1. Glad you enjoyed visiting with me, Mascha - hope you too have a lovely week:)

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  11. I must have totally missed this area when I lived in Derbyshire. I know the Blue John Mine and Tideswell, but don't know this area at all.

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    1. This area of Derbyshire just south of Sheffield and sort of between the Peak District of Derbyshire and the Dukeries area of Nottinghamshire does get overlooked sometimes. It is a fascinating area with lots of history to offer. We visited Castleton a couple of weeks ago and went down Speedwell Cavern, I remember being taken to the Blue John Mine on a trip from school - many years ago:)

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  12. How interesting - caves are so fascinating! Amazing to think of how old they are.... Karen

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    1. Thats - they are very interesting and veery, very old - it is hard to believe that when you are there:)

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  13. I have never been in your part of the country, what a shame. I do love the idea of exploring caves but find it a bit scary, too. Have a lovely weekend.

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    1. We don't live there now but still visit as we both have family neaby. I think I would find the caves a bit scary too - I'm happy just to walk along the gorge and look at them:)

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  14. Thank you this was so interesting. Lovely 5 on Friday!

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    1. Thank you, Julie - glad you enjoyed the visit:)

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  15. What an interesting place. It sounds as though it is the caveman's high street, "I'm just popping down to the caves for some groceries". I wouldn't like to be there in the dark though. Have a wonderful weekend xx

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    1. Just popping to the cave for a bit of reindeer - does sound like that doesn't it? I suppose the nomadic tribes had to find somewhere to take their captured and hunted food to prepare and preserve it as they move around. I wouldn't like to be there in the dark either - it's quite spooky in the day time unless there are a few people around:)

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  16. A very interesting place! Lovely collection of photos for this weeks five!

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    1. Thanks, Louise It is a fascinating place to visit:)

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  17. I think the combination of a river running alongside these crags must make it an interesting place to walk in. The thought that ancient peoples used the caves captures the imagination.

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    1. It certainly does, Linda - it is quite and interesting but also eerie place:)

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  18. That was so interesting Rosie. Great selection for the Five on Friday. x

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  19. This place is definitely going on my 'to visit' list. Did you go in them?

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    1. We didn't go inside on this visit as we had gone to see the Swanscomb skull on loan from the Natural History Museum until early June. I've never been in the caves but my husband has been inside Robin Hood cave a couple of times over the years:)

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