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Chislehurst Caves
Chislehurst Caves
Old Hill, Chislehurst,
Kent BR7 5NB
Tel: (020) 8467 3264
About Chislehurst Caves
Chislehurst Caves can be found at Old Hill, Chislehurst, not far from Bromley, Kent, and are an out of this world – or under it - family attraction that transports ticket holders on an exciting voyage, not only into the heart of the earth, but also back into millennia of enthralling prehistory. And this is one Great British family day that the weather can’t put a dampener on!
An illuminating and enthralling experience is the lot of the Chislehurst Caves visitor, the family attraction presenting a novel and memorable family day out. From the off, the huge Chislehurst Caves impose themselves on visitors, the sprawling caverns taking in some 22 miles (35 kilometres) of dark, mysterious maze-like passages and taking up over 6 hectares of floor space dropping to 30 metres (100 feet) below the surface. Chislehurst Caves were dug out by the hand of Man from 6000 BC onwards, the chalk under the soil at Chislehurst a target for its rich seams of lime and flint, divided across three main areas.
William Nichols, the Vice President of the British Archaeological Association, floated the idea in 1903 that the caverns were excavated by the ancient British Druids, then Romans and Saxons – and not many argued with him! The first zone in Chislehurst Caves that ticket holders confront (and the most recently constructed) is said to date from the Anglo-Saxon era, the second from the Druidic period (when the majority of British inhabitants were the Brythonic-speaking tribes), and third is the Roman interregnum, when the imperial occupiers held sway over much of what would become England and its fringes. Staff members give a 45-minute lamp-lit tour to ticket holders and identify purported Druidic altars and Roman remains, in addition to telling tales of ghostly apparitions, and Druids engaged in ritual human sacrifice to ancient deities like the water god, Vaer. Such stories may be taken with a pinch of salt – or lime – as part of light-hearted family day out, while other diversions include the eye-catching Caves Church, Druid Altar and Haunted Pool, as well as a variety of odd petroglyphs scored into the rock, and numerous intriguing natural features.
Each section within Chislehurst Caves was connected by passageways dug by miners over the centuries, producing today’s physically and historically labyrinthine family attraction. Staff members, however, can guide ticket holders through each period and the complex array of caves, tunnels, chambers and shafts. Just the ticket!
Lime was the reason for the first miners to descend into the Caves around 6000 BC, when was used for plaster and whitewash paint like that later used in monuments such as chalk animals and human figures, not to mention on stone and wood buildings and burial chambers where it represented heavenly and solar light. Chalk layers were rich too in flints that were involved in the manufacture of tools, implements and weapons, including axes, adzes, and arrow and spear heads, besides building, tanning and other hard labour, including mining itself.
The first historical manuscript to mention Chislehurst Caves was a charter of 1250, while church records refer to the subterranean world in 1737. Miners operated in them until the 1830s, when the Saxon area was exploited by a flint-maker and lime-burner by the name of Soper, while local folklore asserts that flint was utilised by the British Army for its flintlocks, while the caves doubled up as a hideaway for smugglers’ wares. Chislehurst Caves were neglected from the 1840s, but the laying of a railway in the vicinity in 1865 opened up the mines to tourism and they became a destination for a novel family day out during the later Victorian era. The family attraction was also utilised at the turn of the century for its acoustics, as numerous sub-surface concerts were staged by music outfits operated by the Crown Theatre of Peckham. Dogs were used to locate several lost day-trippers lost in the maze beneath the Earth – a very novel family day out!
During the Great War, Chislehurst Caves were dusted off as an ammunitions depot for London’s Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, being fitted out in October 1914 with wooden stores and corrugated metal sheds. In addition, a narrow gauge railway was used to move shells and other materiel through the tunnels, though the prevailing moisture and running water in Chislehurst Caves meant that boxes of munitions had to be stored on railway sleepers and only the sections near the entrance to the cave system were requisitioned and bricked off from the rest of the Caves. The family attraction took delivery of Woolwich exports from December 1914 and rail-borne loads were moved to the caves by nine trucks, soon stockpiling more than 1000 tons of TNT. The store was ventilated by three air shafts that surfaced in nearby domestic gardens. Not something you’d get at just any old family attraction! During the War years, Chislehurst Caves had a guard of 15 soldiers, and 100,000 lbs. of explosives were maintained there until July 1920.
During the interregnum between the wars, Chislehurst Caves were taken over by the Kent Mushroom Company, but after World War 2 broke out, the Nazi aerial Blitz meant that Chislehurst Caves were refitted as a colossal air raid shelter easily reached from London and the suburbs. In a short time, it was kitted out as an underground town that could take 15,000 evacuees and boasted electric lighting from dedicated generators. In addition to offices, refectories, stores, bathrooms, kitchens and workshops, there was a chapel and a hospital where one child was born, aptly named 'Cavina'. After the War was won, in mid-1945 the shelter was put into mothballs, and remains of wartime paraphernalia can still to be seen scattered around the Cave complex.
Over and above the historical aspect of this fascinating family day out, Chislehurst Caves have a little-known psychedelic and sci-fi side-story, providing another dimension (or two!) to their renown as a mind-blowing and unique family attraction. During the hippy days of the late 1960s, Chislehurst Caves were changed from Mother Earth into a version of that spaced-out London club, The Middle Earth. Chislehurst Caves was witness to shows by such spaced-out bands as The Pink Floyd and The Jimi Hendrix Experience, not to mention the cosmic David Bowie, Status Quo and The Rolling Stones. They Caves were even the venue in October 1974 where Led Zeppelin’s own record label and publishing company, Swan Song Records, was launched.
Furthermore, Chislehurst Caves was as a film location for the BBC and independent film companies making 60s classics like Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) and Doctor Who (1973’s "The Mutants"), as well as Insemenoid, Bliss, The Tribe and Neverwhere. Thus, for movie and sci-fi buffs and music aficionados, Chislehurst Caves are a family day out with extra appeal.
The applies to enthusiasts engaged in the live action role-play game, "Labyrinthe", which is staged in Chislehurst Caves. All ticket holders have access to the Gift Shop with its associated gifts, plus the Licensed Café/Restaurant and extensive free Car Park. Chislehurst Caves are open all year (except for 24-28 December) and on Sundays there’s an extended 90 minute tour. School trips, private tours and group visits can be booked, along with Children’s Parties and Evening Tours with a meal. A perfect family day out, even at night!