Mendip Hills to the development of cave diving in Britain. The first cave dive was attempted at Swildon's Hole in 1934, and the first successful dive was achieved the following year at Wookey Hole Caves, which has the deepest sump in Britain at 76 m (250 ft). The cave complexes at St. Dunstan's Well Catchment, Lamb Leer, and Priddy Caves have been identified as Sites of Special Scientific Interest. The deepest cave in the Mendip Hills is Charterhouse Cave with a vertical range of . Many caves in the Mendip area were excavated for archaeological and natural history studies by pioneer explorer
Wookey Hole Caves ""Ogof"" which gave the early names for this cave of ""Ochie"" ""Ochy"". "Hole" is Anglo-Saxon for cave, which is itself of Latin/Norman derivation. Therefore, the name "Wookey Hole Cave" basically means "cave cave cave". Eilert Ekwall gives an alternative derivation of "Wookey" from the Old English ""wocig"" meaning a noose or snare for animals. By the 18th century the caves were commonly known as "Okey Hole". Fossils of a range of animals have been found including the Pleistocene lion ("Felis leo spelæ"), Cave hyena ("Crocuta crocuta spelaea") and Badger ("Meles meles"). Wookey Hole was occupied by humans in the Iron