Here at Stump Cross Caverns, we're a few months into an exciting project to clear out a new cave. Ready to find out where we're up to?
Visit us here at Stump Cross Caverns and you have a mile of chambers and passageways to explore – an underground network filled with stalagmites, stalactites and other rock formations.
These are the show caves – those parts of the network that are open to the public. But beyond these are another three miles.
At the moment, we're working hard with local cavers to unlock a new cave:
C Chamber. This is the first dig here in 25 years – and we've already made good progress.
We're a few months in and have already turned a crawl space into a walkable entry. We also managed to shift some 30 tonnes of rocks in just six days of digging!
When the work is done, we'll have added another 100 metres to our show caves. But to get there is going to take a lot of work, skill and perseverance.
Want to see where we're up to? Here's the latest episode of
Discovering Caverns, our YouTube documentary series on the big dig.
C Chamber: the story so far
We've known about C Chamber for a long time. It was given its name (the C standing for "circular") by Stump Cross legend Geoff Workman. But it was only in January 2025 that we got permission from Natural England to start digging.
The plan is to clear out the cave. And when we say "clear out", we don't just mean picking up a couple of rocks and moving them to the entrance. We're talking hundreds of tonnes of rock picked out of wet, muddy, chilly conditions – some of which have to be broken up first.
We're working with a team of experienced cavers from the localCraven Pothole Club – a club without whom we couldn't tell the story of Stump Cross Caverns. Their expertise and determination make all the difference as we take our drills, buckets and other tools down into the caves.
There are two main aims behind this project. The first is to fulfil our roles as custodians of the caves. It's our job to improve them for future generations.
And secondly, the digging of C Chamber will change the shape of the caverns. At the time of writing, you go in, you see the sights, then you come back out the way you came. When C Chamber is dug out, the caves will have a circular route that we believe will enhance the visitor experience.
What's next?
This is just the beginning. We're plan to spend a few more weeks digging before moving on to the next phase. This will involve installing a pulley system to bring up material from the shaft and carry it out through a low tunnel.
Along the way, who knows what we'll find? Ice Age remains have been found before at Stump Cross – and this section has already revealed Ice Age sediment. Could we find the bones of prehistoric animals amid the mud, rock and calcite?
Catch up on episode one of Discovering Caverns here.
