Clifford's Cave

Location
Grid Reference: SX 8664 7861

Altitude: 32m

In the Chudleigh Rocks area. It lies in the left bank of the Kate Brook upstream from Pixies Hole above a small waterfall and at the head of a dry gulley. There is a resurgence not far from the entrance.

Description
Length: 270m

Vertical range: 3m

Clifford's Cave (named after a local landowner, Lord Clifford) is the second longest cave in the Chudleigh Rocks area. There is a resurgence not far from the entrance. The cave is unusual for Devon in having strong vadose features. A crawl through a couple of low chambers (sometimes used by badgers) leads to a flat out crawl into the main streamway never much more than 1.5 metres high. Downstream is Paradise Stream passage, a zigzag rift leading through a duck to a terminal sump. There is a powerful draught in this area. Upstream are a couple of hundred metres of crawling in scalloped rift passage leading to a tiny terminal chamber. A couple of branch passages can be entered, the longest being Razor Passage on the right hand side. The cave may represent a former underground oxbow of the nearby Kate Brook.