Caves of the Mendip Hills caves are listed below Caves of the Mendip Hills The caves of the Mendip Hills are formed by the particular geology of the Mendip Hills: large areas of limestone worn away by water makes it a national centre for caving. The hills conceal the largest underground river system in Britain. The hills consist of anticlines of Carboniferous Limestone lying over Devonian Old Red Sandstone, with the sandstone exposed on the summits. When a surface stream running off the sandstone reaches the limestone it sinks below ground through a "swallet", (also known locally as a "slocker"), continuing on its way down
Mendip Hills and subsequent erosion has resulted in a range of surface features including gorges, dry valleys, screes, swallets and others typical of karst landscapes. These are complemented underground by a large number of caves both beneath the plateau and at the base of the southern escarpment. Wookey Hole is one example of the caves of the area. There are also areas of limestone pavement and other karst features. Dissolution of the limestone produced many of the gorges including Cheddar Gorge and Burrington Combe. Springs are a common feature of the eastern part of the hills, a number of which have associated