Wookey Hole Caves then passes through major cave systems such as Swildon's Hole, Eastwater Cavern and St Cuthbert's Swallet, around Priddy, but 95% is water that has percolated directly into the limestone. The southern slopes of the Mendip Hills largely follow the flanks of an anticline, a fold in the rock that is convex upwards and has its oldest beds at its core. On the Mendips the crest of the anticline is truncated by erosion, forming a plateau. The rock strata here dip 10–15 degrees to the southwest. The outer slopes are mainly of Carboniferous Limestone, with Devonian age Old Red Sandstone exposed
Cheddar, Somerset The last mill, used as a shirt factory, closed in the early 1950s. William Wilberforce saw the poor conditions of the locals when he visited Cheddar in 1789. He inspired Hannah More in her work to improve the conditions of the Mendip miners and agricultural workers. In 1801, of common land were enclosed under the Inclosure Acts. Tourism of the Cheddar gorge and caves began with the opening of the Cheddar Valley Railway in 1869. Cheddar, its surrounding villages and specifically the gorge has been subject to flooding. In the Chew Stoke flood of 1968 the flow of water washed