Cheddar Gorge

Cheddar Gorge is a well-known and dramatic natural limestone gorge, formed by the collapse of cavern-systems carved out by the Cheddar Yeo river in the Mendip escarpment.

The lower end of the Gorge has been developed for tourism since Georgian times and especially after the arrival of the GWR Strawberry Line railway in 1867. A road, the B3153, passes up the Gorge. For these reasons, it can be best to visit the Gorge off-peak, such as on fullmoon nights or cold winter days. Then you can catch the amplified silence of the place.

The Gorge is famous for its discovered remains of very ancient habitation, found in the caves, going back 12,000 and even 40,000 years. Gough's cave was continuously visited for 2,000 years - probably not just for shelter but also for religious reasons. The oldest complete skeleton found in Britain, Cheddar Man, was found in Gough's Cave, dating back 9,000 years. Engravings from the end of the ice age have been found also (as also at Aveline's Hole in Burrington Combe, not many miles away on the north side of the Mendips).

In ancient times the Gorge was part of a fine living-landscape stretching from the Mendip plateau 1,000ft up, down the Gorge to the Somerset Levels below at sea level, replete with resources for ancient people - stone, metals, timber, game, fish. The scene was probably quite idyllic and the local society quite prosperous. The presence of Gorsey Bigbury henge above the Gorge, plus a scattering of other Neolithic sites and lead mines on the Mendips, suggest this was quite a busy place in later-Megalithic (Bronze Age) times. In Roman times it was very strategic, due to the lead mines and the value of British lead, relics of which have been found as far away as Pompeii in Italy. Silver, copper, quartz, calcite and calamine were also available.

So much for the known history of the place. Since it is inspiring, and since it has been visited and inhabited so long, the its religious significance is intuitively obvious, accentuated by the profusion of ancient sites above the gorge on the Mendips. Yet the Gorge itself contains no known megalithic sites or remains, which is strange. They can have been covered over or recycled. Or it can be that the impressive grandeur of the Gorge, with its eerie presence and echoing walls, made ancient people leave it as it is.

Reflecting on the tradition of the Perpetual Choir at Glastonbury and the choral tradition of Druidic (Iron Age) times, and hearing the echoey qualities at parts of the Gorge, the use of this place for sound and music is obvious. One can imagine invocations and praise resounding from the walls.

Cheddar Gorge is well worth a visit, together with some of the sites up on the Mendips - Velvet Bottom (the site of the old lead mines), Beacon Batch (the Mendip summit), Gorsey Bigbury henge and the nearby Swallow Hole. When you visit, don't just look - try to feel too. The presence of ancient peoples is still there.

Website: Cheddar Caves
Photos: www.tonyhowell.co.uk