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The Wookey Hole Witch
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The Wookey Hole Witch
Wookey Hole Caves, near Wells in Somerset, have been inhabited for 70,000 years, when they were explored by Neanderthal Man, in his search for a home offering shelter and security.
Numerous travellers from the Romans onwards have made reference to the caves, showing that even when vacated as a home for Iron Age people, they remained a place to visit and marvel at.
In 189 AD, the Roman diarist Clement of Alexandria relates to the "clashing of numerous cymbals", a known phenomenon where changes in air pressure produce extraordinary noises.
The caves were also, according to legend, the home of an unpopular witch who didn't get on with her neighbours.
The village clubbed together to decide what to do and decided to send in a monk to have a word with her. After failing to mediate successfully he followed her down Hell's Ladder where he apparently found her turned to stone.
The most likely explanation is that he saw a piece of rock in the shadows that had
eroded into a witch-like shape, but it makes a good story.
In this chamber with a sandy shore reaching down to the subterranean River Axe the outline of the witch can be seen, her eyes fixed on the river.
The story that the monk turned the witch to stone was first written down in 1748, even though the story had been handed down for generations.
It wasn't until 1912 that Mendip cave explorer H.E. Balch found evidence that could substantiate the story - at least to a degree.
He found goats had been stabled at the entrance to the cave, a milking pot nearby and even a ball that had been made from a stalagmite.
But there was more - a comb made from red deer antler, a set of human bones and some tools, all of which are now exhibited in Wells Museum.
The witch - if it was her - had apparently died of disease or violence on the floor of her cave
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