Lancaster Hole Trip Log: Pitch Previews, Route Descriptions & Video. [ Cave Info ](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk) [Cave Directory](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/caves) [Interactive Cave Map](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/cave-map) [About](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/about) Yorkshire Dales - Three Counties / Ease GillLancaster Hole ============== Home of the colonnades and a lengthy entrance pitch. A great cave with some fantastic formations along the way. Grade 3 Routes Completed 2 Visits 1 SRT Cave? Yes Access [Book Online](https://booking.cncc.org.uk/system/booking/cave.php?id=184) Access Land (CRoW) refers to land where you have a right to roam on foot. In caving, this often means the entrance is located on such land. [ ![Lancaster Hole - Formations](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/storage/169/conversions/01M2KD6FT9QEE07BP6J9TRJWVW-optimised.webp) ](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/storage/169/conversions/01M2KD6FT9QEE07BP6J9TRJWVW-optimised.webp) [ ![Lancaster Hole - Entrance](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/storage/168/conversions/01M2KCEKY45K7WKK0B8Q99J18R-thumb.webp) ](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/storage/168/conversions/01M2KCEKY45K7WKK0B8Q99J18R-optimised.webp) [ ![Lancaster Hole - More Formations](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/storage/170/conversions/01M2KD6FTS07R4XKVTRQQ1SZX2-thumb.webp) ](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/storage/170/conversions/01M2KD6FTS07R4XKVTRQQ1SZX2-optimised.webp) [ ![Lancaster Hole - The Colonnades](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/storage/171/conversions/01M2KD8EPZXZZQKDQZYY1S8S1M-thumb.webp) ](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/storage/171/conversions/01M2KD8EPZXZZQKDQZYY1S8S1M-optimised.webp) [ ![Lancaster Hole - Painters Palette](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/storage/172/conversions/01M2KDRJC0R4BT1JC3DNAQD1PC-thumb.webp) ](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/storage/172/conversions/01M2KDRJC0R4BT1JC3DNAQD1PC-optimised.webp) - Directions / Parking - Routes - Visits - SRT Preview - Videos - Weather Directions and Parking ---------------------- About 25 mins walk Around 0.63 miles / 1.02 KM Satnav: Bull Pot, Casterton, Carnforth, LA6 2JP ### Parking Please take care on the single track road on the way to the farm, there's a few blind summits and corners. Slow driving is recommended. Once you've you got to the end of the road, it should become obvious where you can park. There are gravel / grass verges on the either side on the approach to Red Rose. It can get very busy here so you might have to reverse back and take a left and see if there's any space there instead. Please see the yellow areas marked on the map below for ideal parking spaces. ### Interactive Map The map shows the walking route and parking spots. You can also download the data in GPX and KML, which you can then import into OS Maps. [ Download GPX ](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/caves/lancaster-hole/directions/gpx) [ Download KML ](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/caves/lancaster-hole/directions/kml) Route Descriptions ------------------ #### Lancaster Hole to Main Drain [ Print ](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/caves/lancaster-hole/routes/lancaster-hole-to-main-drain/print) This was a long-overdue trip, after missing previous opportunities during dry weather for a couple of years. It was a route I needed to complete to join up the “dots” in reaching Oxbow Corner, which we had already reached by other routes but never via the Main Drain. And yes, it needed dry weather, because as the Main Drain can flood, conditions have to be right. The weather had been exceptionally hot for the time of year, and the dry forecast continued, so it was ideal. Lancaster Hole is a nice 100ft pitch into the Ease Gill system. From the bottom of the pitch, follow the rift. You can either step up onto the ledge or stay low and balance on the boulders; both routes lead to the same place: a gloopy, muddy step up into Bridge Hall, then down the other side, taking care not to slip. At the bottom of Bridge Hall, to the right, is a scaffold bar this is Kath’s Way, and it’s the way on. Scrambling down the hole soon becomes hands-and-knees crawling, but only briefly, and then you can stand up and walk. The route is straightforward: follow the main passage, manoeuvring over a small vertical slit and dropping over a pool of water on the far side, trying to keep your feet dry. Continue until you reach a very large boulder blocking the passage. You can climb over it, but the easiest way is to go low on the right-hand side and around it, which usually means dropping to hands and knees. To reach Fall Pot, the easiest route is immediately around the other side of the boulder. There is a mud bank on the right with convenient foot slots to the top. Veer left at the top; the passage narrows, then reaches another mud bank on the left sloping down. It may look as though the passage continues and gets smaller, but ignore this. Go down the mud slope, turn right at the bottom, and keep right, being careful not to fall down holes on the left. Soon, you will reach the vastness of Fall Pot within a few feet. There used to be two ways to reach the bottom of Fall Pot. One was an SRT descent down a slab roughly in the middle as you look over the pot. At the time of writing, this is no longer available because the rope has been cut. The second way down is on the right-hand side. There are now two ropes in this rift and climb: the original one with loops for cow’s tails and climbing down, and a newer single rope that I suspect is intended for a descender and is much easier. To SRT it, you first climb down a few feet, using cow’s tails for safety, balance on a ledge, and attach your descender. Be alert and make sure you clip onto the correct rope. Once at the bottom, take the narrow - and I mean narrow rift that bends left. Keep high and slide down, trying not to get stuck. On the return, the corner can be awkward because there is not much to hold onto; taller cavers may have an easier time than shorter ones. You are now facing a massive boulder. If continuing to Stake Pot, keep right to go around it. You can do this even when descending into the Main Drain, but you may as well keep left and walk down through the gap towards the boulders and the way on to the Main Drain. I’m a little vague here, because there may be more than one hole to descend, and one is the right one while another may be the wrong one. Don’t drop too far and end up under a shower from water coming down high from Cow Pot. Look for a worn smoothing in the rock: it’s a weaving route down through the boulders, but there is a dry way through. You arrive at a ledge where you can see the Main Drain a few feet below. The easiest way down is on your right, to reach the streamway. Downstream leads to the sump, and at this point you really appreciate the immense size of the Main Drain passage. Before the sump, and just beyond the bend, there is a passage on the right: Wilf Taylor’s Passage, leading to Double Decker Pot. If you have time, it’s worth having a look as far as the climb in the cavern of Double Decker Pot and the frayed traverse rope, then returning to the Main Drain. There is another passage on the right by the bend, just before the sump, up a mud slope: Waterfall Passage. Now head upstream towards Oxbow Corner, with about 650m of passage to cover. Passing where you came down, there are a few boulders and water dripping down, marking where you need to return if you come back this way. The Main Drain is immense, huge in height and scale. I won’t spoil too much, because there are more things to see and it’s better discovered for yourself. There are three pools to pass, keeping to the sides. One was still waist-deep for me before I climbed out. Soon after the last pool, you reach the boulders of Stake Pot. Apparently, you can climb up and leave the Main Drain from here, but I never spotted the way, so that’s one for a future trip. Thread your way through the boulders of Stake Pot, it’s easy enough and you’re back in the stream way proper again. Continue on and enjoy the great caving this route offers until you eventually reach a boulder choke that looks impassable, but a route does exist, you just have to find it. If you see a rope dangling down, ignore it. The way on is up, down, and through the boulders, keeping right wherever possible. It’s caving at its best: part exploration, part adventure playground, with climbing and crawling through the streamway where most of the water runs under the rocks and boulders. You may go wrong and need to try again, but eventually you stand up in the streamway and, within a few yards, there it is: Oxbow Corner. Looking back up to the boulder slope on the right, this leads to the high-level route to Stake Pot and then Fall Pot. If you return that way, you will need your SRT gear. Other options include travelling via Oakes Cavern, The Minarets, Cornes Cavern, Snail Cavern, Monster Cavern and Mainline Terminus to Stop Pot, Four Ways Chamber and exiting via Wretched Rabbit. Alternatively, from Mainline Terminus you can exit via the Manchester by Pass to County Pot, but County must be rigged beforehand. Either way, you need to know the route out of Oxbow, and I know of two ways to navigate past Oxbow Corner to Oakes Cavern, because there is no way through if you continue following the stream. As we had already done the other routes before, we simply returned the way we came, back to Fall Pot, because it was double the fun and worth appreciating the size of the Main Drain all over again. We did this, and it was still over 4 hours by the time we exited via Lancaster Hole. To reiterate: it needs to be dry, with no chance of rain. Otherwise it will be dangerous, and you may not get through the last boulder choke just before Oxbow Corner. If you’re new to the Ease Gill system, take care and do your homework. Better still, do shorter trips first so you learn the system before trying to join up the bigger routes. Even better, go with someone experienced in these passages. It took me three years to get to know the basic routes through the system, and I still haven’t seen it all. It's vast, with new passages and routes to explore all the time. Cavers have got lost in Ease Gill and needed rescuing. It is dangerous, with slippy mud throughout the system. Don’t be one of those who gets lost or has an accident. Happy caving. #### Lancaster Hole to Wretched Rabbit [ Print ](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/caves/lancaster-hole/routes/lancaster-hole-to-wretched-rabbit/print) We started out descending Lancaster Hole. We then went to Bridge Hall and went up the passage to look at the Colonnades . Back to Bridge Hall we went down the passage where the scaffold bar was called Kath's Way. We then ended up at Fall Pot. We climbed down on the right hand exiting via a tight rift at the bottom of Fall pot. We then climbed up on our right hand side and continued on the the Montagu East passage to Stake Pot. Stake Pot was the awkward climb down on the left which changed to descender for the last few feet on to what's called the Bridge with the handline continuing across the bridge up the climb on the right hand side. At the top of Stake Pot we then continued along the obvious passage with a small ascent over boulders where it levelled out at Bob's Boss. From there it was a straight or rather meandering straight route with lovely formations. We eventually came across a small climb up via a hand line and a pool with various different colours. This is called Painters Palette. (looking at earlier pictures of this it's seen better days). From here we shortly reached the traverses on the right hand side. The first one which seemed nice and wide and easy was Scylla and the second one which was narrower and us having to manoeuvre over a block to reach the ledge is called Charybdis. From there we descended a bit and then ascended up and down the rocks like you do in that system and continued on the High level route passage. We found the crawl we were looking for on the right hand side and this took us to above Oxbow Corner. We could hear the water but from where we were there was nothing to see of Oxbow Corner. We then climbed up yet again and reached the first of the caverns called Oakes Cavern. This took us to the Minarets with the pointy ceiling and formations. We then emerged into the second cavern called Cornes cavern. As we continued we went through Snail Cavern and then the last one called Monster Cavern. At the far end of Monster we sat down at Mainline Terminus. From Mainline Terminus we continued towards Stop Pot meandering through the boulders to the Iron ladder and we climbed down to the top of Stop Pot boulder choke. From there we went through the crawl to 4 ways chamber and dropped down to Wretched to exit. My Visits --------- Caving journal### 1 February 2025 Personal rating ★★★★ 4/5 Party 8 people Time Underground 4h 13m Walk To Entrance 0h 25m Total outing 4h 38m Route completed Lancaster Hole to Wretched Rabbit Conditions Dry Rigged by Simon Would do again? Yes #### Trip profile SRT 3/5 Navigation 4/5 Tightness 3/5 Exposure 3/5 Water 2/5 Physical 4/5 Longest pitch 28 meters #### Notes This was an absolute beast of a trip. We must have easily done 4 hours underground, this trip had it all! The longest pitch I've ever done, some mind blowing formations, big rooms and tight squeezes! First the entrance pitch. I was a bit worried about the rebelay which I thought was at the change over point onto the long drop down, but it was actually only a meter or so down from the entrance, with a nice ledge to sit on, it made the changeover easy. The slightly tricky bit was having to do a little swing over to the next rope. The rope down the big pitch was a fast rope, you could easily slide down it too fast, I was bouncing all over trying to find the right speed! After the descent, which was the longest one I'd done to date, Martin took me over to the colonnades. It was a sight to behold, with 2 absolutely huge columns from floor to ceiling. After this we were on our merry way to Fall Pot, but first we passed through a passage with a scaffold bar, Kath's Way I believe this one is called. There were a few ways down, but we decided to take the approach with a handline and the rest on the descender. After a quick climb back up to our right hand side and some walking along the passage we eventually reached Stake Pot. No Steaks were in sight however, but there was our next rope traverse and pitch. It was quite a unique setup. There was a handline down a decent drop, which actually wasn't that bad once you were down. Then there was a quick descent, before a climb back up again, but this was just using a handline. The next point of interest was Bob's Boss - a big stalagmite. I hadn't heard the term boss before so I asked Martin what it meant. It's basically a large chunky stalagmite. A little further on there were some fantastic formations (see the photos above for some of them!) After a short climb up a handline we arrived at the "Painters Palette". A small water pool with a mashup of colours. It was quite spectacular, something I'd never seen before! Another noteworthy place was the Minarets, which was kinda like a long dome shaped passageway with lots of pointy formations. There was also a lovely tight crawl to leave. It's one of those that look far too tight to get through, but once you get down and poke your head through it's not as bad as you think! After about 4 hours the trip eventually came to an end and we exited via Wretched Rabbit. I think I might hold some unofficial, totally made up record for getting up all 4 ropes in the quickest time. I'm gonna say in under 3 minutes, can you beat that? ### **Would I do this trip again?** Absolutely, even though it was a long trip. The elements the cave has is well worth the effort! The big entrance pitch is good for SRT practice, the formations are plentiful, with the colonnades being a standout. There's also so much to explore with different routes taking you to different places too, I'd go back just to see them. SRT Previews ------------ SRT Previews let you see what a pitch looks like before you enter the cave. **They are not rigging guides, and they are not a how-to. Never rely on them for rigging.** Always go with a competent person who knows how to rig a cave. If you need a rigging topo, use the [CNCC guide.](https://cncc.org.uk/cave/lancaster-hole) No SRT Previews just yet. Videos for Lancaster Hole ------------------------- Rainfall report for Lancaster Hole ---------------------------------- This uses Environment Agency rainfall data from the real-time data API (Beta) and is provided for reference only. Please note the **“Distance from cave”** metric, as measurements are often several miles from the cave. Always check local forecasts and confirm the cave is safe to enter before going. Instrument Type Tipping Bucket Rainguage Distance from cave Approx: 6.27 miles Location of instrument 54.144383 -2.433946 Latest Reading 0mm at 12/10/2026 17:30:00 Met Office forecast### Weather forecast Yesterday through the next 6 days #### Sun 11 Oct 2026 High / low 11°C / 9°C Wind 3 mph Rain chance Day 9% Night 53% Heavy rain Day 0% Night 26% #### Mon 12 Oct 2026 High / low 16°C / 13°C Wind 7 mph Rain chance Day 52% Night 94% Heavy rain Day 30% Night 92% #### Tue 13 Oct 2026 High / low 15°C / 13°C Wind 9 mph Rain chance Day 95% Night 35% Heavy rain Day 94% Night 22% #### Wed 14 Oct 2026 High / low 15°C / 12°C Wind 8 mph Rain chance Day 36% Night 71% Heavy rain Day 20% Night 65% #### Thu 15 Oct 2026 High / low 16°C / 12°C Wind 7 mph Rain chance Day 89% Night 78% Heavy rain Day 87% Night 75% #### Fri 16 Oct 2026 High / low 12°C / 9°C Wind 5 mph Rain chance Day 9% Night 3% Heavy rain Day 5% Night 1% #### Sat 17 Oct 2026 High / low 12°C / 9°C Wind 3 mph Rain chance Day 1% Night 3% Heavy rain Day 0% Night 1% ### More Caves Cave #176#### Sell Gill Holes (Dry) A popular choice for people wanting to get their SRT stripes. A short cave with some nice formations. [ View Cave → ](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/caves/sell-gill-holes-dry) Cave #201#### Runscar Cave (4) A short but sweet cave. Can be done in about 6 minutes flat. You might get a bit wet. [ View Cave → ](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/caves/runscar-cave-4) Cave #203#### Thistle Cave (2) A very short and easy cave. Great for beginners and younger cavers. [ View Cave → ](https://www.caveinfo.co.uk/caves/thistle-cave-2) Cave Info © 2026 caveinfo.co.uk Website by [ACO Digital](https://acodigital.co.uk/)