GB Cave

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title: "GB Cave" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["caves-of-the-mendip-hills", "limestone-caves", "cheddar,-somerset"] description: "Limestone cave in Somerset, England" topic_path: "general/caves-of-the-mendip-hills" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GB_Cave" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Limestone cave in Somerset, England ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox cave"]

Field	Value
name	GB Cave
photo	GB Cave.jpg
location	Charterhouse, Somerset, UK
depth	134 m
length	1950 m
elevation	253 m
survey	{{ubl
1	1. Bracknell CC (overlaid on map)
2	2. Geological Conservation Review
3	3. UBSS
4	4.
discovery	1939
geology	Limestone
access	locked
grid_ref_UK	ST 47595623
registry	Mendip Cave Registry
map	Somerset
coordinates
::

| name = GB Cave | photo = GB Cave.jpg | photo_caption = | location = Charterhouse, Somerset, UK | depth = 134 m | length = 1950 m | elevation = 253 m | survey = {{ubl |1=1. Bracknell CC (overlaid on map) |2=2. Geological Conservation Review |3=3. UBSS |4=4. | discovery = 1939 | geology = Limestone | difficulty = | hazards = | access = locked | translation = | language = | grid_ref_UK = ST 47595623 | registry = Mendip Cave Registry | map = Somerset | map_width = | coordinates = GB Cave is a cave between Charterhouse and Shipham in the limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England.

The cave was first entered on 19 November 1939, after ten months of digging, by the University of Bristol Spelæological Society, and was named in recognition of the two members, F. J. Goddard and C. C. Barker, who had done most of the work involved in its discovery.{{cite journal |first=F.J. |last=Goddard|title=G.B. Cave, Charterhouse on Mendip|year=1944|publisher=UBSS|journal=UBSS Proceedings|volume=5 | issue = 1 |pages=104–113|url=http://www.ubss.org.uk/search_literature_browse.php?ArticleId=140&ArticleName=G.B.+Cave%2C+Charterhouse+on+Mendip

Ladder Dig broke through in 1966 to gain access to the extremely well-decorated Bat Passage.

The entrance to the cave is kept locked, and access is controlled by the Charterhouse Caving Company.

Description

GB Cave is remarkable for the Gorge, a river-passage up to 6 m wide, 12 m high and 90 m long, which opens into the even larger Main Chamber (20 m wide, 23 m high, 122 m long). Together these two form what was thought to be largest known space under the Mendip Hills, until the discovery of "The Frozen Deep" in Reservoir Hole in 2012.

Further into the cave is the Great Chamber, another large space, and a number of other chambers in the cave that are well decorated.

The trace elements magnesium, strontium and barium have been found by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) from three Holocene speleothems taken from the Great Chamber.{{cite journal | last1=Roberts |first1=M. S. | last2=Smart |first2=P. L. | last3=Hawkesworth |first3=C. J. | last4=Perkins |first4=W. T. | last5=Pearce |first5=N. J. G. | year = 1999 | title = Trace element variations in coeval Holocene speleothems from GB Cave, southwest England | journal = The Holocene | volume = 9 | issue = 6 | pages = 707–713 | doi = 10.1191/095968399672615014 |s2cid=129027419 | url = http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=1556261 | url-access=subscription

References

References

1. {{cite mcra
2. "GB Gruffy". Wildlife Trusts Somerset.
3. Johnson, Peter. (1967). "The History of Mendip Caving". David & Charles.
4. Witcombe, Richard. (2009). "Who was Aveline anyway?: Mendip's Cave Names Explained". Wessex Cave Club.
5. Norton, M.G.. (1966). "Interim report on the Ladder Dig Series, G.B. Cave, Charterhouse-on-Mendip, Somerset". UBSS.
6. "Home page". Charterhouse Caving Company.
7. Irwin, David John. (1999). "Mendip Underground: A Cavers Guide". Bat Products.
8. (7 September 2012). "Cheddar cave 'biggest in Mendip Hills'". BBC News online.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::