Victoria Cave got its name because the inner chamber was discovered in 1837; the year of Queen Victoria's coronation and since then it has been completely excavated and has yielded a fantastic record of climate change in the Dales over thousands of years. It contained a large number of bones, of which the earliest were 130,000 years old and included those of hippos, narrow-nosed rhino, elephants and spotted hyenas. They date to a period when the climate was much warmer than today.
Following the last Ice Age, the cave was used by hibernating brown bear. In amongst the bones of reindeer was an 11,000 year old antler harpoon point, the first evidence for people in the Yorkshire Dales.
For archaeologists, the Roman layers were even more interesting, giving up a collection of unusual bronze and bone artifacts, including brooches, coins and pottery, some imported from as far away as France and Africa. Archaeologists have speculated for years as to what exactly was going on in the cave and it now seems likely that the inside was used as a shrine and there was a workshop area outside.
Both caves can easily be accessed from either the road going across to Malham or from the lane going out of Langcliffe to Wharfedale. I chose the Langcliffe road and had a simple walk up to Langcliffe Scar with its limestone pavements. This path brings you out half way between Victoria Cave and Jubilee Cave so you do have to retrieve your steps for part of the way.
Victoria Cave is much larger than Jubilee Cave which was named for the Silver Jubilee of George V in 1935. There are danger notices at the entrance of Victoria Cave as the roof is pretty unstable with a lot of evidence of rock falls. Bearing this in mind, I didn't venture too far in to the cave and went in just far enough to get a couple of photos. There were rock climbers on the cliffs to the left of the entrance and looking back, I suppose the place is like a mini Malham Cove.
I then retraced my footsteps for part of the way and headed off to the much smaller Jubilee Cave. The cave is very tiny and looks to have been used more as a shelter rather than living area. I didn't venture in and didn't seem to have deemed it interesting enough to take a photo either!
I then took a stroll along part of the Pennine Bridleway which would have eventually taken me across to Malham but instead I just took a path through the fields which eventually took me back to my car. You get fine views across to Pen y Ghent and Ingleborough from the bridleway.
The entire limestone escarpment forms part of the impressive Attamire Scar and a longer circular route, incorporating Warrendale Knotts, can be done from Settle. This goes out on The Pennine Bridleway and returns via The Dales High Way.
