DEEPDALE CAVE. 63 



of medieval antiquity. The other branch reaches the same road 

 at a point a mile nearer to Buxton. Throughout their whole 

 course Deepdale and its tributary valleys are carved out of the 

 lower beds of the carboniferous limestone (or fourth limestone, as 

 it is sometimes termed), and the main portion is crossed by 

 at least three mineral veins or " rakes." 



The entrance of the cave, as already stated, is in a long wall- 

 like escarpment facing the E.S.E. This escarpment does not 

 rise sheer from the bottom of the valley. At its foot is a steep 

 slope about fifty feet high, which, almost beyond a doubt, consists 

 wholly of " screes " {debris from the rocks above), and is now 

 covered with soil and grass. The portal of the cave is singularly 

 artificial in appearance, an effect heightened by the wall-like 

 character of the escarpment. It has the form of an elliptical 

 arch, about twenty-six feet wide, and fifteen feet in height in the 

 centre, set within a shallow rectangular recess in the rocky face. 

 This opening is at the foot of the escarpment, so that the interior 

 may be easily reached by climbing up the talus outside. The 

 external height, as just given, does not represent that of the 

 interior. Within the portal a steep and narrow path ascends a 

 few feet to the actual floor of the cave, and, at the same time, 

 .the roof drops a trifle, the two combining to reduce height within 

 to about six feet. This height, however, is not long main- 

 tained, for at twenty-eight feet from the entrance the roof 

 ascends to twelve feet or more. The floor is tolerably level, 

 and unencumbered with fallen stones. The sides are as irregular 

 as the roof. From a width of about twenty feet, just within the 

 entrance, the cave is narrowed down to about ten feet, where 

 the roof begins to ascend ; and from this point the width remains 

 tolerably constant to the back, some eighty-eight or ninety feet 

 from the entrance. Nevertheless, in spite of these variations as 

 to width and height, this portion of the cave (for there is another 

 large chamber in the rear at a lower level) is remarkably straight 

 and tunnel-like, with a course nearly due east and west. The 

 roof and sides have but little stalagmitic deposit upon them, so it 

 is not strange that several old inscriptions are still legible and 



