Skullcap Cave

Location
Grid reference: SX 867 787

Altitude: 60m

This lies at the edge of Palace Quarry in Chudleigh and is at the same level as Tramp's Hole which is further along the cliff going downstream.

Description
Vertical range: 2m

The overall length of the cave is something like 60 metres. The extension, known as Size Means Nothing, is 20 metres long. The extension contains archaeologically significant bone deposits (small mammals) and there are areas of undisturbed sediment along the sides of the main passage. The extension is quite well decorated and ends in a boulder choke which has not been excavated due to lack of spoil stacking space. Photos can be seen on a Devon Speleological Society (DSS) website (not the official one). There remains potential for further excavation nearer the entrance and there may well be a lower series as yet unentered. A survey and photos were published in Descent magazine1.

History
The entrance was located in 1985 by Brian Johnson and excavation commenced by a group of cavers mainly from DSS including Chris Proctor, Peter Glanvill and Pete Rose. It became clear that excavations were in an abandoned stream cave with phreatic sections. After 4 years of digging a breakthrough into open cave was achieved. Although gated, the gate was removed by persons unknown.