Yordas Cave Entrance

Yordas Cave

Kingsdale, Yokshire

This cave can be entered with relative ease and the main chamber is accessible. Smaller chambers and tunnels are available to more intrepid visitors. Experienced cavers with the neccessary equipment are able to follow links from Yordas Cave to local potholes.

Yordas Cave was used as a show cave in Victorian times and a few steps remain at the entrance. Various large timber posts can be found in the cave and these may also date from this period. In several places large mud sediments can be seen providing an indication of the amount of sediment that once filled this cave.

Torches are required to explore this cave as there is little light penetration from the small entrance. The cave is also quite damp and in places there is slippery mud underfoot. This cave is dangerous, beware!

Parking is available in small lay-bys at nearby Thornton Lane.

Entering Yordas Cave

The way in to Yordas Cave is through an easily accessible entrance. The air becomes very cold as you enter the cave and a thick mist of condensing water droplets may be encountered.

After the narrow entrance corridor the large main chamber leads to all other areas of the cave. Underfoot can be seen to be a floor of medium sized stone pebbles as found in the bottom of a stream. The ground is also quite damp.

Photography is possible using a tripod and a very long exposure time. Powerful torches can be used to illuminate the scene by moving the light accross the cave walls, floor and ceiling as the exposure takes place.

Yordas Cave Main Chamber

Yordas Cave Calcite Formations

Much of the walls of Yordas Cave are covered by Calcite formations that form interesting shapes although there are no really impressive stalactites or stalagmites as may be found in other caves.

Yordas Cave formed by the action of water over millions of years in the same way that river valleys are formed above ground. As further time passes, water percolating through the limestone rock absorbs minerals such as calcium which is later deposited on the ceiling, walls and floor of the cave.

In some areas of Yordas Cave the Calcite layer is found to have been breached at some time in antiquity, probably by Victorians. This is particularly noticable when accessing the waterfall chamber where the entrance is in the form of a crude door shape smashed through the Calcite.

Yordas Cave Alluvial Deposits and Crawl Tunnel Entrance

To the left of Yordas Cave entrance can be seen large amounts of alluvial sediment, largely silt and mud deposited in the cave by water. Coloured bands in the deposits indicate floods or climate change in years the sediment was deposited.