Bone Cave Entrance

The Bone Cave entrance is a picturesque garden feature from the early 19th century located in Banwell. It consists of unworked stone and brick forming a grotto, along with a high-walled path that leads to an arched and decorated entrance to the cave. The structure includes a part retaining wall made of random rubble, which has two low pointed arches on the right and a larger raised arch on the left. The wall features small round-headed niches at regular intervals. Behind the two arches on the right, there is a semicircular grotto with five plastered niches and a flat brick ceiling. In the center of the grotto stands a lozenge-shaped table made of tooled stone, supported by a random rubble upright. A pyramidal cap tops the grotto entrance, and a small marble plaque displays 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 the arch on the left, a path between 1.5-meter walls curves to the right, with a large niche on each side leading to a round arched entrance. Inside, a final stone arch holds a barely legible plaque with the legend "B/R/1804," and below the arch, there is an arched pair of whale bones. This entrance is part of an extensive set of picturesque estate features created by the antiquarian Bishop Law of Bath and Wells on his Banwell estate.