Bone Cave Entrance

ST 35 NE BANWELL BANWELL HILL

4/2 Bone Cave entrance

G.V. II

Picturesque garden feature. Early C19. Unworked stone, brick grotto and high walled path leading to arched and decorated entrance to cave. A part retaining wall of random rubble pierced by 2 low pointed arches to right, 1 larger raised above wall height to left; wall pierced with small round headed niches at regular intervals; behind 2 arches to right is a semicircular grotto with 5 plastered niches and a flat brick ceiling; a tooled stone, lozenge shaped table stands in the centre on a random rubble upright; a pyramidal cap surmounts the grotto entrance, a small marble plaque bears the text: "Here, where once druids trod in time of yore/And stain'd their altars with a victim's gore/ Here now the christian ransom'd from above/Adores a god of mercy and of love.' Behind arch to left a path between 1.5 metre walls swings right, a large niche on each side, to round arched entrance; within, a final stone arch bears a (barely legible) plaque with the legend -/B/R/1804; below the arch is an arched pair of whale bones. One of an extensive set of picturesque estate features erected by the antiquarian Bishop Law of Bath and Wells on his Banwell estate.

Listing NGR: ST3820458812