Speedwell Cavern

The Castleton Caverns comprise The Blue John Cavern, Treak Cliff Cavern, Speedwell Cavern (all clustered around the Winnats pass) and the great Peak Cavern, just outside Castleton village.

Speedwell Cavern, at the very foot of Winnats Pass, is probably the most popular cavern of the four. This is a mine with several natural chambers and an underground canal which forms the centrepiece of the visit. The cavern is open daily all year.

Steps lead down from the entrance to the canal, which was hacked through the rock by miners in search of lead in the 1770s. The project was led by James Gilbert who was the Duke of Devonshire's agent for the Ecton Hill mines and made a fortune there, but at Speedwell eleven years of digging brought little reward before the venture closed. The water in the canal has already followed a tortuous underground passage from Perryfoot, near Sparrowpit, and eventually emerges at Russet Well, just near the entrance to Peak Cavern.

At the end of the canal is the Bottomless Pit, a large water-filled hole. This huge natural cavern is so high you cannot see the top and is so deep that when the canal was dug many tons of waste rock were tipped into it without making any visible impression upon it.