Short Drop Cave–Gavel Pot system

Short Drop Cave and Gavel Pot are different entrances into the same cave system on Leck Fell, in Lancashire, England. The main top entrance, Short Drop Cave, is a small hole in a fenced-off shakehole near the main stream sink. Gavel Pot, a window into the system, is a large fenced shakehole some 40-metre (130 ft) deep, requiring tackle to descend. Two other smaller entrances also lead into Short Drop Cave. At its base, the system links via a sump with Lost Johns' Cave and is part of the Three Counties System, an 87 kilometres (54 mi) cave system that spans the borders of Cumbria, Lancashire, and North Yorkshire.

Nearby Places View Menu

Three Counties System

The Three Counties System is a set of inter-connected limestone solutional cave systems spanning the borders of Cumbria, Lancashire and North Yorkshire in the north of England. The possibility of connecting a number of discrete cave systems in the area to create a single super-system that spans the county borders was first proposed by Dave Brook in 1968, and it was achieved in 2011. The system is currently about 90 kilometres (56 mi) long, making it the longest in the UK and the thirty-fourth longest in the world, and there continues to be scope for considerably extending the system.

Rumbling Hole

Rumbling Hole is a cave on Leck Fell, in Lancashire, England. Its entrance is a 50-metre (160 ft) deep fenced shaft, and it rapidly descends a series of pitches to a low aqueous passage that has been connected to Lost Johns' Cave. It is part of the Three Counties System, an 87-kilometre (54 mi) cave system that spans the borders of Cumbria, Lancashire, and North Yorkshire.

249 m

Long Drop Cave

Long Drop Cave is a cave on Leck Fell, in Lancashire, England. It leads into Death's Head Hole, and is part of the Three Counties System, an 87-kilometre (54 mi) cave system which spans the borders of Cumbria, Lancashire, and North Yorkshire.

Lost Johns' Cave

Lost Johns' Cave is an extensive cave system on Leck Fell, Lancashire, England. With its three major vertical routes (Dome Route, Centipede Route and Monastery Route) it is a popular place to practise single-rope technique (SRT) because of the opportunity for exchange trips. Also it can be safely visited on wet days because many of the pitches can be rigged out of the water. It is an important part of the Three Counties System. All routes converge on Battleaxe Streamway. From here the usual route is to shuffle along Battleaxe Traverse at a high level protected by rope, and descend a safe distance from the water. From here a short passage and another pitch leads to Groundsheet Junction where the Leck Fell Master Cave is entered. Upstream leads to the high-level passages of Lyle Cavern and a connection with the Notts Pot system. The main streamway continues to the NPC Avens, where Boxhead Pot and It's a Cracker enter the system. Downstream leads through several neck-deep pools past several inlets, including one which links with Rumbling Hole, and another which links to Death's Head Hole, to a sump which, after 800 metres (2,600 ft), connects with Pippikin Pot.