Kents Cavern

Coordinates: 50°28′06″N 3°30′11″W / 50.4682°N 3.5030°W / 50.4682; -3.5030
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Kents Cavern
Notification
1952 (1952)
Natural England website

Kents Cavern is a cave system in

Scheduled Ancient Monument since 1957.[1][2]

Prehistory

The caverns and passages were formed in the early

Swanscombe, Pontnewydd, Paviland, Creswell Crags and Gough's Cave
.

Kents Cavern 4

Main article: Kents Cavern 4 maxilla

A prehistoric upper jawbone (maxilla) fragment was discovered in the cavern during a 1927 excavation by the Torquay Natural History Society and named Kents Cavern 4. The specimen is on display at the Torquay Museum.[5][6]

In 1989, the fragment was

Homo neanderthalensis, which would have made it the earliest anatomically modern human fossil yet discovered in northwestern Europe.[7] In a response to this paper in 2012, the authors Mark White and Paul Pettitt
wrote, "We urge caution over using a small selected sample of fauna from an old and poorly executed excavation in Kent's Cavern to provide a radiocarbon stratigraphy and age for a human fossil that cannot be dated directly, and we suggest that the recent dating should be rejected."[8]

Modern history

As an archæological site

Kents Cavern is first recorded as Kents Hole Close on a 1659 deed when the land was leased to John Black.

Creation to 4004 BC.[11]

In September 1845, the recently created Torquay Natural History Society requested permission from Sir Lawrence Palk to explore the caves to obtain

antiquity of humanity.[12]

1866 record of a wolf cranium found in Kents Cavern

In 1865, the British Association created a committee, led by Pengelly, to fully explore the cave system over the course of fifteen years.[9] It was Pengelly's party that discovered Robert Hedges' stalagmite inscription, and from the stalagmite's growth since that time deduced that human-created artefacts found under the formation could be half a million years old.[13] Pengelly plotted the position of every bone, flint, and other artefact he discovered during the excavations and afterward continued working with the Torquay Natural History Society until his death in 1892 at his home less than 2 km from the caves.[14]

As a tourist attraction

A tourist route through the cavern

In 1903, Kents Cavern, then part of Lord Haldon's estate, was sold to Francis Powe, a carpenter who originally used the caves as a workshop while making beach huts for the Torquay sea front.[2] Powe's son, Leslie Powe, turned the caves into a tourist attraction by laying concrete paths, installing electric lighting, and building visitor facilities that later were improved, in turn, by his son John Powe.[15] The caves, now owned by Nick Powe, celebrated 100 years of Powe family ownership on 23 August 2003 with special events including an archæological dig for children and a display by a cave rescue team.[16] A year later, a new £500,000 visitor centre was opened, including a restaurant and gift shop.[2]

Attracting 80,000 tourists a year, Kents Cavern is an important tourist attraction, and this was recognised in 2000 when it was awarded Showcave of the Year award and later in November 2005 when it was awarded a prize for being Torquay's Visitor Attraction of the year.[citation needed]

Kents Cavern is one of the most important

geosites in the English Riviera Geopark, one of over 170 UNESCO Global Geoparks.[citation needed
]

In 2023, Kents Cavern was put up for sale for up to £2,500,000 and bought by The Tudor Hotel Collection.[17]

Kents Cavern in fiction

"Hampsley Cavern" in Agatha Christie's 1924 novel The Man in the Brown Suit is based on Kents Cavern.[18] The 2011 science fiction romance Time Watchers: The Greatest of These, by Julie Reilly, uses Kents Cavern as a principal setting in three different time periods.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Kents Cavern" (PDF). Retrieved 3 November 2011.
  2. ^ a b c "Visitor centre for ancient caves". BBC News. 5 July 2004. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
  3. ISBN 978-0-9559514-0-4
  4. ^ "Human Occupation of the British Isles Project". Nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
  5. ^ "Jawbone". Kents Cavern. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  6. ^ "Kent's Cavern report on the way? | john hawks weblog". Johnhawks.net. 25 December 2006. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
  7. S2CID 4374023
    .
  8. doi:10.1179/1461957112Y.0000000019
    . Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  9. ^ a b c d e John R. Pike, Torquay (Torquay: Torbay Borough Council Printing Services, 1994), 5
  10. ^ a b Percy Russell, A History of Torquay (Torquay: Devonshire Press Limited, 1960), 107
  11. ^ Russell, 108
  12. ^ a b Russell, 109
  13. ^ Pike, 5–6
  14. ^ Russell, 110
  15. ^ "Devon Features – Kents Cavern in Torquay celebrates 100 years under the same ownership". BBC. 31 July 2003. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
  16. ^ "Special events mark Kents Cavern's centenary". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
  17. ^ Cavern, Kent's. "Prehistoric Kents Cavern caves sold to hotel and leisure firm". BBC .co.uk/news. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  18. ^ Macaskill, Hilary (2009). Agatha Christie at Home. Frances Lincoln Ltd.

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Kent's Cavern".
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kents_Cavern&oldid=1211261600"