The
Unofficial Website
Creswell Crags
Creswell Crags are the rocky heights on each side of a deep magnesian limestone gorge, the base of which is filled with a large lake. The gorge is a
Scheduled Ancient Monument and Site of Special Scientific Interest. Thousands of years ago streams carved the 500m gorge through the limestone bedrock.
The area is important geologically and archaeologically as well as for local natural historians. There is a footpath along the lake which affords views of both sides of the gorge and of the entrances to a number of caves that have been naturally carved out of the limestone. The caves themselves were inhabited by successive waves of humans, first Neanderthals towards the end of the last interglaciation. Cro-Magnons who were our distant ancestors lived in the caves before the last Ice Age took a firm grip on Britain and moved back not long (geologically speaking) after the it retreated from this area of Britain. As well as the human remains including rare cave art and not forgetting the rubbish, there are remains of the animals that lived in the area at the time. All of the caves are protected by metal grills to preserve the rare archaeological remains and can only be visited with a guide during the special events.
From the Museum there are guided tours that take you around Robin Hood's Cave and the limestone gorge. These run mostly at weekends with extra tours during the week in the school summer holidays. The site and Visitor Centre are open for booked parties seven days a week from February through to October and Sundays only from November to January. Group visits may be possible outside these times. Although the staff said they needed eight people to organise a tour, there were six of us but they did one any way. There are lots of activities, many of them aimed at children e.g. the Time Line Trail. There are also talks and visits about the geology, archaeology and natural history of the area.
In 2008, following a large lottery grant, the visitor centre and museum is undergoing a massive transformation and there is a much ado about building. It is expected that the new centre will be open by the end of March 2008 when many of the artefacts and remains found there will be returned from the storerooms of the British Museum and put on display there.
The cave art, which has only very recently been identified by archaeologists, consists of etchings done with a flint burrel on the rocks inside some of the caves. These have been dated to about 12,000BC from the deposits of dripstone on top. You have to peek very carefully but you can just see that the example on the left from Church Hole is a representation of birds.